The Final Ride
by HeyItsHannah19
Summary: My version of book 8! Post "Angel" Max is trying to find Angel and the DG. Fang and his gang are doing the same thing. Will time bring them together again? The story is better than the summary! Rated T because it's Maximum ride! NOTHING BAD! Maybe FAX?
1. Prologue

The Final Ride

Prologue:

Everything looked blurry. I could almost feel the strength seeping out of my body as my captor pumped more and more drugs into my veins. My hearing was completely clouded; it was like I was hearing everything through a thick sheet of glass.

I moaned as the strong scent of antiseptic filled my nostrils and made my stomach convulse, I probably would've barfed if I'd had any food in my stomach.

A high, pitched keening sound began to echo through my eardrums as a severe pain shot through my entire body, then I realized that the sound was coming from me.

At that point, I didn't know which way was up or which was down, it felt like I'd turned to jello and was now simply rolling through space. Somebody laughed and somebody screamed, this time it wasn't me. I was another person whose scream sounded so familiar that it pulled me from my drug-induced daze.

_Angel._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Angel nodded. "You guys get going!" she looked at me one last time. "It'll be okay Max. I'll be with you always, no matter what. And Max-I believe in you. _Forever."_

BOOM! The bomb exploded. And my baby disappeared. She was gone, maybe even dead… And it was my fault. All my fault…

"ANGEL!" I screamed, sitting bolt upright on my tree branch and waking up with sweat beading up on my forehead.

_Just a dream, Max. _I thought_. It was just a dream._

But that was a lie. It was real.

Angel had disappeared in Paris, the bomb had exploded before her and Gazzy could disable it. My baby had disappeared into the ashes of Paris.

_No. She's not gone. You just need to find her_. I thought, wiping away the tears that were running down my cheeks.

"Max?" Dylan wrapped his arms around me. "Are you okay?"

I shoved away from him "What do you think?" I said a little to fiercely.

"I know. I miss her too."

"No. You don't know. You didn't spend your entire life with her, I DID, Gazzy did, Nudge and Iggy did… Fang did." I said and leaped out of the tree, unfurling my wings and shooting into the air. I heard him following me, so I sped faster, rocketing out of the forest and into the clouds.

I heard Dylan land again and another pair of wings unfurl, then another, and another. I waited for my flock to join me.

"Hey guys." I smiled slightly.

"Hey Max." Nudge murmured, for once she had nothing to talk about, and for once, I wish that she did.

Iggy and the Gasman said nothing. Angel was Gazzy's sister, his real, bloodline, sister. As for Iggy, he just had nothing to say either.

We were in Switzerland, Zurich to be exact. It was about 400 miles from Paris.

"I think we need to decide who we want to look for. My Family, or… Angel."

"Max, I don't think your gonna find her. I think you should just accept that she's gone." Dylan said, coming up behind me. I knew that he wasn't meaning to be a total jerk, but that didn't stop me from getting totally mad.

"Well I do!" I yelled, whirling around to face him. "And if you don't, then don't come and keep your mouth shut! She's alive and I just know it."

"I think Max is right, it's worth a try. We, the flock, are a family, and family doesn't give up on family." Nudge muttered a little louder and with more power.

"I- I agree." Gazzy whispered, looking up at me with tear-streaked eyes.

"I say heck yeah!" Iggy yelled. "Nudge is right. We don't give up on any flock members."

We stacked our fists, Dylan hovered on the outskirts.

We started to fly, I wasn't sure if Dylan was coming, but he followed about 20 feet behind, like he was afraid of me snapping on him. It was a rational fear.

I wasn't sure what was gonna happen now, just that we were going to find Angel, we were going to find my baby.

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><p><strong><em>Hey! I hope that there are people reading this. If you didn't like this chapter, I'm very sorry. If you loved it, then I'm glad!<em>**

**_I know that the chapters are really short, but I'll update really frequently!_**

**_Thanks!_**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

FANG

I looked around the hotel room that we were staying in. It was just past two in the morning, Ratchet was snoring like a lumberjack and Holden kept on murmuring, "I am starfish" in his sleep. So I guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight.

We were about a mile away from Paris and it'd been about a day since the explosion, but the memories and sounds of the time we lost Angel still seemed to echo in my ears and run through my brain…

Angel, Gazzy, and I were running out of time trying to disable that bomb. They told me to go and help Max fight off the DG and get as many people as possible out of Paris. Angel threatened to force me to do it if I didn't oblige. So I ran out of the sewer system and into the open air of Paris. I flew up and helped Dylan and Max fight off Mark and Beth. Everything was working out well, Max and Maya had killed Mark and Dylan and I were working together somewhat peacefully.

Until the bomb went off and our little girl disappeared.

Angel disappeared.

Max had refused to leave the city, searching for Angel for five hours straight, until Dylan had told her that she probably wouldn't find her, and so had I. And then, if I hadn't broken her heart enough already, I left her again.

"We're going to take off." I'd said.

Then her face had gone from depressed to completely and totally demolished, and it killed me.

"What?" She'd whispered.

"We have to kill the plant at the roots, or it'll just grow back." I'd tried to keep the agony out of my voice; it 'd worked.

And then we'd flown off, and as I left I'd seen Dylan take her hand.

The memory of that made my jaw tighten, my fists clench, and I felt like punching something.

I wrenched the window open and jumped out of the 20th story hotel room. I almost enjoyed the short drop towards the ground, almost. Then I unfurled my pitch-black wings and caught myself just before I hit the ground and soared skyward. I flew until my wings practically gave out and landed in a tree some 10 miles from the hotel. But that reminded me too much of the flock and Max, (we'd stayed in tree's a lot) so I flew out of it and just sat there on the ground, in the damp leaves, debating my next move.

I wanted to fly back to the Flock and Max, but I couldn't go back to the flock, at least not now. I'd broken Max's heart to many times in the past month that she was past her breaking point, I just couldn't hurt her like that, especially not now.

So I flew back to the hotel and landed softly on windowsill. When I clambered in Holden and Ratchet practically pounced on me.

"Where the heck have you been?" Holden yelled.

"Yeah man! We thought you'd, like, been abducted by the DG or something like that. Jesum! Don't do that!" Ratchet burst out, throwing his hands into the air.

"Sorry! I just had to get some air and think for a while." I cried, shoving past them.

"Is this about Paris?" Ratchet asked.

"Of course it's about Paris! I mean, GOD! Angel is missing, or… or… dead! And with me leaving, Jeb and her Mom disappearing, Ella leaving, then being found, then leaving again to get wings, and Angel disappearing, Max is shattered almost to the point of no return, and to make things worse, I left her and broke her heart _again._" I threw my hands up as well this time and realized that I was yelling my head off.

Ratchet shut his mouth, but Holden stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder. He looked up at me.

"I'm not gonna tell you that I get what your goin' through." He said softly. "But dude, it'll work out."

"Thanks man." I said, the kid sure did know some compassion.

Just then somebody knocked on the door. Ratchet said "Hello Kate." before he even opened the door.

She came marching in, wearing her pink pajama bottoms and a grey tank top with her hair in pigtails on the sides of her head. "What the heck was all of that yelling about?" She said putting her hands on her hips. "You're gonna get us kicked out if you keep that up!"

Maya came shuffling through the open door with Star trailing close behind. Maya yawned and mumbled "Yeah, what was all that about?"

I looked at her and saw Max, she smiled and I had to look away.

_She's not Max, she's not Max, she's not Max!_ I thought angrily.

"So… What were you yelling about?" She asked with raised eyebrows that were so familiar they made my stomach clench.

"Well we were just—Ow!" Holden yelled as I stepped on his toes.

"Nothing, just… Nothing. Go back to bed, tomorrow we've gotta find the DG." I shook my head, hoping that maybe it would clear my head of all the terrible things in it; of course, it didn't work.

Star, Kate, and Maya nodded sleepily and tottered out the door and into the girl's room.

"Night man. Try to get some sleep." Ratchet patted me on the shoulder and plopped down on the bed nearest to the window.

"Yeah, night dude. Try not to think to much." Holden said doubtfully, lying down on the other bed.

"Sure, sure." I said, sitting down on the windowsill, where the window was still open, and letting the cool European breeze wash over me. I closed my eyes, even though I knew there was no chance I'd be falling asleep tonight.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello again! <em>**

_**I know that this is my third update today and I hope that it makes whoever is reading this **_**_happy!_**

_**Thank you to Jessica and oOsmileOo for reviewing! It makes me happy to know that people like it! Please keep on telling me what you think of it!  
><strong>_

_**This Chapter was alot longer than the rest of them and I hope that that's a good thing and not a bad thing... I hope that you like it!**_

_**Pretty, pretty, please review if you read this story! Even if you hate it... :)**_

_**Thank you!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_

_**P.S. If you have any questions, you can put them in a review!  
><strong>_


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I sat on the windowsill of a hotel room in a city some 300 miles away from Paris. It was three in the morning and everybody was fast asleep. So now it was just me and my thoughts.

Everything from the day of the explosion came flooding back and filled my brain.

Fang and I finding Angel and Gazzy in the tunnel, me leaving to fight the DG, Fang showing up to help, Maya and I killing Mark, and finally the explosion that sent everything into a catastrophic sequence of events. Gazzy had showed up and realized that Angel wasn't behind him; Fang and I had searched for five hours straight.

Fang.

God, I missed him so much it brought tears to my eyes, the fact that these tears were so common these days made me cry even more.

I opened the window and jumped out into the crisp night air. I let myself fall until I almost ran into a building.

I unfurled my 13-foot wings and shot up into the air. I used my super fast wings and shot across the sky, landing right outside the city, not wanting to get to far away from my flock. There was a clearing that was thick with vegetation I sat down in the middle of two bushes, where I wrapped my hands around my knees and sobbed silently.

Fang and I were like brother and sister, no not like brother and sister, we WERE brother and sister (not by blood, but we were that close to each other). And then Jeb had disappeared and it was just me to lead the flock, and he'd been my right wing man. Then Angel had been kidnapped and we had to rescue her, we'd gotten her back, fang had gotten his butt kicked by my evil half-brother, Ari, and almost died, and I'd kissed him.

After that we'd been flying to Washington D.C. and been attacked by winged erasers, Ari had raked Fang across the stomach and Fang had dropped out of the sky and almost died. Then, when we were forced to go to real normal school, he'd kissed Lisa and I'd been super jealous for some unknown reason that I didn't understand. I'd kissed Sam, and Fang wasn't exactly happy about it.

Later Fang had kissed me when we were searching for a new place to live and erasers had captured us. When we'd broken free from the school, I'd let Ari, who was now good and expiring soon, come with us. Fang had refused to fly with his enemy, who'd almost killed him twice, and he'd left with Iggy and Gazzy. That was the second worst time of my life; the one I'm in right now is the worst. After Ari expired, I'd called them and we'd gotten together, and he'd promised not to leave me. We see how that worked out.

And then he got me that promise ring, which I still wore even though he'd left me twice and broken my heart.

New tears ran down my face and I wiped them away, but they just came back so I gave up.

Then somebody else landed in the clearing.

_Dylan._

He found me hiding and pulled me to my feet.

"I'm sorry I was such a jerk, you know I love you and don't want to hurt you." He gushed.

"Whatever, Dylan." I said tiredly.

"I've missed you." He wiped a tear off my cheek.

"What? -" I whispered.

But he silenced my words with his lips and kissed me hard and determinedly.

In response, I slapped him across the face as hard as I possibly could.

"OW! What the heck Max! Why'd you do that?" He yelled.

I slapped him again for that one.

"Why can't I go one day without all of this?" I yelled. "Why don't you just leave me alone, Dylan? I mean, first you tell me that Angel is dead and that there's no chance of finding her, now you come and try to _apologize for that and say you missed me! _Then, to make things worse, you_ KISS ME!_ My god! Leave me alone! Please! I'm tired of this."

"Max. I—"

"Please, just save it, Dylan, I told you, I'm tired of this." I said waving my hand in annoyance, and then I leaped off of the ground, unfurled my wings, and sped back to the hotel, not even giving him time to respond.

My tears were long gone now. All I thought about was how amazing flying is (And how much I wanted to kill Dylan, but I didn't think about that just now). Just the feeling of the wind on my face while I'm soaring across the sky at 200-300 miles per hour makes me happy. I landed on the hotel windowsill in less than a minute and clambered in silently.

"One, two, three" I counted my flock members quietly to myself, not wanting to wake them up. Nudge had her head on Iggy's shoulder since she'd fallen asleep next to him while they watched a movie with Gazzy, who was curled up in a ball at their feet.

I smiled at my sleeping flock and went to lie down on the other bed. I dozed off, refusing to fall asleep, and woke up about two hours later, it was five thirty in the morning, so I woke my flock up and we leaped out of the window, leaving our room key on the bed, and flew towards Paris.

We flew towards my baby.

Towards Angel.

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><p><strong><em>Hi dear readers! Haha<em>**

**_I forgot the disclaimer in chapter one so here it is!_**

Disclaimer:

I do not own Maximum Ride. Although I wish that I did, I don't. I do not have the genius of James Patterson, therefor I don't own the characters either. I do however, own this fanfic. So nobody steal it! :)

**_This is the first update of today and I'll probably put a few more up today, I hope that you like it! That is, if anybody is reading it. Please review if you are, just so I know that somebody is reading this story!_**

_**Thanks!**_

**_maximumwriter19_**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We were flying to Paris, but you already know that.

"Max," Nudge called to me over the wind, I knew what was coming. "I'm hungry, can we get some food?"

_That's my girl._ I thought with a smile.

"Sure Nudge." I called, "Let's drop down over here."

Nudge smiled. Iggy asked her where we were and she looked at me for an answer.

"Ig, we're reaching the Switzerland border." I called to him.

"Oh." He said.

"Gazzy?" I asked.

"Yeah Max?" He asked.

"It's gonna be okay. We'll find her, I know we will." I tried to smile.

I heard another pair of wings pumping behind me, other than Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy. I had a feeling it was Dylan, but just in case I whirled in a one-eighty and I saw him, this didn't make me happy, but he was better than erasers, or flyboys, or whatever the scientists of Itex were inventing these days.

I rolled my eyes and turned back around, dipping my body so that we began our dissent, there weren't any fast food restaurants to be seen, so I stopped in front of what looked like a cafe.

I bought 30 bagels and 8 hot chocolates for my flock; the lady behind the counter didn't even question my quantity of food. Nudge beamed for the first time in days when she saw the food, Gazzy grinned and grabbed six bagels from the bag and chugged two hot chocolates, Iggy waited for me to tell him where the bag was.

"Iggy, 2 o'clock, you can grab seven bagels and two hot chocolates." I said, giving the back of bagels a shake so he'd know where to go.

"Thanks Max." He smiled, walking forward and reaching his hand right into the bag, pulling out seven blueberry bagels, he took his hot chocolates from the tray. I grabbed my share and scarfed it down.

"Ok, let's head out again."

Everyone got up we ran out of the small little city we'd landed in, not wanting to draw attention to ourselves because of the… uh… wings.

Then we launched into the sky and coasted along on a warm jet stream. This was one of the best parts of flying; I didn't even have to move my wings.

A movement from not to far behind Iggy, who was at the back of our diamond formation, caused me to whirl again, it didn't sound like Dylan. The sound wing pumps were much less coordinated, and sounded too jerky.

In a rapid one-eighty, I turned around to see what it was. More like what _they_ were.

There were flyboys behind us, loads of them, at least a hundred.

And they were catching up to us, quickly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hi!<strong>_

**_This was a shorter chapter, that doesn't make me very happy, but I hope that whoever is reading this likes it. Nobody has reviewed since chapter 1, even though I've put up 3 more chapters since then. But that's ok, I just want to know if people are actually reading it! Haha._**

**_Things are starting to get intense with the flock... I wonder what will happen next! *smiles*  
><em>**

**_I'm gonna say it again. PLEASE REVIEW! Even if you don't wanna. I promise the review button won't bite if you click it and send me a review! And it would make me super happy to know somebody is reading my story!_**

**_Thanks! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Review, review, review!_**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

FANG

I was right. I didn't sleep at all last night. But I preferred that, I didn't want to dream, because I knew what they'd be about, and I didn't want to relive that again, especially in dream form.

I woke up the girls first because I knew that they'd take longer to get ready. Kate threw a pillow at me, and I think I'll have a bruise for at least a week.

I went back to Ratchet, Holden, and my room; I flicked them in the ear to wake them up.

"OW! What the heck!" Ratchet yelled. Sitting bolt upright, his ray bans flying off, "Ah! My eyes! The light it burns!" He cried, shutting his super-sensitive eyes immediately.

"Here, Ratchet." I handed him the sunglasses, he put them on and opened his eyes.

"Jesum man! Why'd ya gotta do that to me?" He looked like he was about to hit me, then he stopped, probably remembering the last time he'd attacked me, it didn't end well for him.

"Why is everyone yelling again?" Holden muttered sleepily.

"Ratchets just not a morning person." I said simply.

"Ha-ha, so funny, Fang. Really, really _witty_!" Ratchet murmured as he stalked off into the bathroom.

I pulled off yesterdays black shirt and exchanged it for todays black shirt; I only have two shirts, one pair of pants, and a pair of shoes.

Ratchet came back out, adjusting his headphones and sunglasses, insuring protection from the ultra-loud sounds and ultra bright lights.

Star was the first to enter our room, of course I knew that would happen due to her super speed.

She wore the same outfit that Ratchet and I had met her in, but this time her hair was in two braids that were probably done by Kate or Maya.

Kate came in next, her hair was done the same as Star's and she had blue skinny jeans on, with a t-shirt.

And then there was Max—I mean Maya.

_She isn't Max, she isn't Max, SHE ISN'T MAX! _I thought again for the second time today.

Maya and Max were total opposites, except for the fact that Maya is Max's clone.

Maya came in wearing Skinny jeans, pink converse, a light tank top, and a pink sweatshirt. Oh, and the biggest difference of all, she wore makeup and had a magenta streak in her hair. If she were Max, she'd have on anything but skinny jeans (because they were to hard to fight in), a windbreaker (to keep her out of the wind when she flew in the cold night and because it was easy to cut slits in it for her wings), shoes that were anything BUT pink, possibly a grey tank top, her hair would definitely not, under any circumstances, EVER have any type of unnatural color in it because it was a waste of her time, and she would definitely never wear makeup, because she was comfortable without it.

I almost smiled when I realized how much I really knew about Max. Then that feeling went away as soon as I remembered everything else that had happened to her that I knew about, everything happy, sad, and really depressing. The reason that the good feeling went away: I'd caused about half of those events, and almost all of the really depressing things.

"Fang? You okay?" Mayas voice pulled me out of my thought processing.

"Yup." I grunted, unable to say more. Then I clapped my hands and said, "Okay. Lets fly!"

Ratchet, Kate, Holden, and Star raised their eyebrows at me.

"And run."

Now just Ratchet, Kate, and Holden.

"And drive in Ratchets car!" I finished with a sigh.

About a half an hour later, we were on the road back to Paris, I really didn't want to go, but I knew that we'd have to if we wanted to take the DG down.

So we flew/ran/drove into the city of love, art, and Fat people, but in my case, it was just the place that I'd lost Angel and left Max. Maya flew silently next to me.

"Hey," She said.

"Hey…" I said softly.

I think that she understood that I didn't want to talk, because she didn't speak again until we landed in a secluded street, where Ratchet, Holden, Kate, and Star waited.

"Bring it in guys." I said and we huddled together. "Okay, so here's the plan to find the DG."

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><p><strong><em>Hello!<em>**

******_I updated again today. Nobody has reviewed... yet! _**

******_Now Max and Fang are both headed to Paris! Yay! Except that the Flock and Max are being ambushed by flyboys, who are NOT DEAD! Oh shocker_**!**_ Enjoy!_**

**_Thanks! _**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Dive, dive, dive!" I yelled, and we crisscrossed, flipped over, and dove at full speed.

We pulled up and whirled to face our attackers, that were, I realized, not Flyboys, they were not robots, but living, breathing, killers. They smiled evilly at us; I knew that the swarm would be on my flock and I in seconds. Dylan came up behind me and I didn't tell him to go away, because we needed another fighter if we wanted to last more than ten seconds.

The new flyboys now had us surrounded. After getting closer look, I realized how vicious and living these creatures were. They were almost like a mixture of eraser and flyboy.

Their teeth, scratch that, their _fangs_, gnashed and their dog-like eyes glared at us, they were slowly gliding closer.

"Okay guys," I muttered to my flock, "Remember, they're bigger than us, that's a disadvantage in the air, we're small and quick. Do with that what you will. It'll be ok."

I heard them nod silently.

"Your plans are futile, and your fighting will be in vain." Said the eraserboy right in front of me. "Maximum Ride, join us now and none shall be harmed. Join us."

I realized that it was only about two feet away from me. "Like heck I'm going with you!"

Then I lunged at him, chopping him right above the wing joint like I'd been taught, his wings folded in ad he plummeted to the ground.

"I am one of many, you will lose." He thundered as he fell to his death.

"One of many, one of many." The other eraserboys drawled.

The eraserboys watched their brother fall and go splat on the ground below. Then, snarling with rage, all the now ninety-nine were-wolfs-with-wings-gone-bad charged us.

We all tensed for battle and charged them back. But the were to big and smashed into us with so much force the wind was knocked out of me. I rolled, so that I was horizontally facing the clouds above, inhaling deeply and dodging eraserboys as I went.

"Drop!" I shouted to my flock. And we all folded in our wings and plummeted forty-feet, snapping them back out and catching ourselves.

I wasn't sure how smart these eraserboys were, that's why I had my flock drop, because if the dogs know about the wing-joint-weakness and they use it, then the fall won't be fatal to my flock.

We hovered vertically in the air, waiting to again be joined by the enemy, our only chance was to fight them off, they were too fast for Gazzy and Nudge, if we were to try to fly away, they'd just catch up to us again.

Two eraserboys flew up behind and in front of me, I shifted to a horizontal position, cracking the one behind me with a bone-breaking kick to the ribs and landing a power-packed punch to the gut on the other, both dropped to the ground to catch their breath.

I heard Nudge shriek, then she was falling wings tucked, arms flailing; she fell maybe 20 feet before hitting the ground.

"Nudge!" I screamed, chasing after her as she fell.

"I'm fine." She called as I landed next to her. She winced as she touched her ribs.

"Stay here."

"No way!"

"_STAY HERE._" I ordered.

"Fine."

I launched back up into the sky, prying and eraserboy off of Iggy and bashing the monster in the face; he shrieked in pain and dropped like a rock.

Then Gazzy was falling, just like Nudge. I followed him to the ground.

"Gazzy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm ok."

"Good, stay here with Nudge."

"No-"

"_DON'T ARGUE JUST DO IT!_"

"Ok, Max, I will."

"I'll be back."

I shot back up, expecting the fight to be swirling around me, but everything was still, and the eraserboys were all smiling at me with a malicious look in their eye. I heard a grunt and whirled around to see Dylan and Iggy being contained by four eraserboys each.

"Dylan! Iggy!" I lunged forward to at least attempt to rescue them, but instead I was grabbed by the ankle and dragged backwards into the smelly, vise-like arms of an eraserboy.

"Where do you think you're goin' Maximum?"

"You let me go you lab rat gone wrong! Or… or…"

My brain was starting to feel fuzzy, I felt a small prick of a needle enter my skin and some sort of drug entered my body, whatever it was it sure packed one heck of a punch.

"Or… or… or WHAT?" Snarled my captor.

"Max!" Faintly, I heard Nudge and Gazzy calling my name…

I looked at Dylan and Iggy dazedly, and the last thing I remember seeing is them being knocked out via a bash to the head, then they were dropped to the ground below, I knew the fall wouldn't kill them.

_Thank god. _I thought hazily.

And then I passed out in the arms of my stinky, hairy enemy.

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><p><strong><em>Hey hey!<em>**

_**As you can see things are starting to get intense with the flock! Max has been abducted, if you don't already know that. **_

**_It's been two days since I updated last, sorry if that made any of you readers out there mad, but I hope that you like this chapter. The next one is going to be very short, but I should have it up by tonight or tomorrow. If I don't, then I am apologizing in advance_**.

**_Please review! Even if you don't have a fanfiction account you can review! It would make me super happy!_**

**_Thanks!_**

_**maximumwriter19**_


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

NUDGE

I saw and heard everything; it was all I could do to restrain Gazzy, because I knew we'd be no help to Max if we were trapped like Dylan and Iggy.

Then I saw them inject her with something and she got all tired, they bashed Iggy and Dylan on the head, letting them drop.

"Max!" I shrieked, tears running down my face as they carried her off, knowing I could do nothing to help her now. Instead I focused on the falling and unconscious Iggy and Dylan.

"Iggy!" I screamed as he smashed into the ground, Dylan would be fine due to his super spit, so I left him alone for now, some trees had broken his fall.

I pulled Iggy's head into my lap and inspected the damage.

"Oh, Ig." I murmured, he had blood dripping down the back of his skull and a lump on top of his head, he'd probably cracked a rib or two, but I wasn't sure. Other than a few scrapes on his arms, he'd held up pretty well for a blind guy fighting off whatever those things were.

Gazzy sat on Iggy's other side, crying like me, because now we'd lost Max, too.

I heard Dylan come walking over and sit next to us, he was spitting on his hand and then wiping it over his bleeding head.

"How is he?" he asked me.

"I think he'll be okay, his head will heal and so will his ribs, now we just wait for him to wake up." I responded with a sigh, pulling a mini first-aid kit out of my pocket and grabbing some disinfecting wipes to clean Iggy's head.

Iggy came-to about two minutes later and I was happy that his startled sound had broken the almost permeable silence that had settled around Dylan, Gazzy, and I while we waited.

"What's- what's, where, when… How?" he yelled, jerking awake with his head still resting in my lap. He reached up to touch my face, probably seeing who I was, and immediately relaxed. "Oh, Nudge, it's you."

"Hey. How do you feel?" I asked.

"Not great, but not terrible." He said softly, his face darkening, touching his chest and wincing. "Where are Gazzy and Dylan?"

"Here" Dylan called.

"I'm right next to you, Ig." Gazzy said, patting Iggy's hand twice.

"And… Max?" Iggy asked hesitantly.

"She's gone, they took her." I murmured, tears rolling down my face and falling onto his. He reached up with perfect precision and wiped them away.

"What are we gonna do?" Gazzy wailed, shoving his face into the grass and bawling.

"Well, we're not gonna do that." I said, standing up and wiping my own tears away.

And then I was struck by a sudden inspiration; I whipped out Max's phone from my pocket.

"Isn't that Max's?" Dylan asked harshly.

"Yup." I responded, scrolling though her contacts.

"Well, why do you have it?" he pressed.

"I dunno, she gave it to me one night to order pizza. But that's not important!" I found the contact I was looking for. Dylan didn't respond.

"Who ya gonna call?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, who could possibly help us now?" Gazzy sniffled.

"I'm calling Fang." I said, hitting the call button.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hi!<strong>_

**_See! I told you I'd have the next chapter up by today! And it's up!_**

**_I hope you liked this one, I also told you it would be short and it was, but I'll have the next one up very soon! It may even be up by tonight!_**

**_Thanks!_**

**_maximumwriter19_**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

FANG

"Okay, Maya, Star, and Kate will all go to the North end of the city. Maya, you can scope out the sky, Kate and Star can cover the ground. Ratchet, Holden, and I will take the South end." I explained, as my gang listened intently, nodding and agreeing in all the right places.

I was just about to explain out meeting place when my phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket.

It was Max.

I flipped it open.

"Hello?" I asked hesitantly.

"Fang, it's Nudge." I heard Nudges voice from the receiver, she sounded totally freaked.

"Nudge, what's wrong, where's Max?" I asked quickly.

"We were flying towards Paris when… Oh Fang! -" I heard somebody who sounded like Gazzy start wailing, and it sounded like Nudge was trying to stifle her own sobs.

"Nudge! Nudge, tell me what happened!" I almost yelled.

"Fang, Max is gone, she was taken by- well, I don't know what they are, I think Itex made them, but they knocked out Iggy and Dylan and dropped them to the ground, Iggy's hurt. Then they shot Max with some sleep meds and they carried her off! There were at least a hundred of them. There was nothing Gazzy and I could do!" She cried.

"Wait? Max? Who got Max?" My heart was sent into a rapid pulse, I actually yelled this time, Ratchet and Holden raised their eyebrows, I shook my head at them and turned my attention back to Nudge.

"I told you, I don't know what they are, it's hard to explain. But Fang, we need help, I don't know what to do." Her voice broke on the last sentence.

Somebody on her end send "Just hang up and we'll figure it out on our own!"

_Dylan._

I'd told him to protect her when I'd left Max in Paris; I guess he didn't. He'd always hated me, first I was dating the girl he was programed to love, and then I'd broken her heart.

"No Nudge! Don't hang up on me!" I yelled in panic.

""I'm not gonna." I could almost feel the eye roll that she was probably giving Dylan right now.

"Where are you guys?" I asked.

"Uh, we're in a forest like 200 miles outside of the south end of Paris… I don't know our exact location, Max has the map in her backpack."

"Ok Nudge, I'll be there within the hour."

"Really Fang? Oh my god, that's awesome because I thought that you were gonna say you couldn't come, then we'd be stuck with," she whispered the next word. ", Dylan," and then rose her voice again. ", to lead us. And that just wouldn't be good because then I wouldn't know what to do because I only follow Max, or you, or Iggy I guess, for that matter. So I'm just glad that you're-"

"Nudge!" I shouted to shut her up. "I'm coming, okay? Just sit tight for a little bit."

"Oh! Right, thanks, Fang." She said and the line went dead.

I turned to my gang "New plan, we're gonna go meet Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and… Dylan. Travel in the same way you came to Paris."

"Wait what?" Ratchet yelled.

"Max has been abducted by someone and Nudge called to ask for my help… I need to do this guys, they'll always be my flock, too."

I launched into the sky, Maya followed silently, I heard Ratchet mustang rev up and roar along the road.

Maya flew in silence for the entire time. I didn't even look at her, I was to lost in my own thoughts.

Max.

Powerful, strong, tough, fierce, and beautiful, Max.

And now she was taken from her flock, by some new thing that was apparently from a branch of Itex that we hadn't destroyed.

I'd started to see forests, and we were almost 150 miles out of Paris, I saw a few broken tree branches, probably where Dylan and Iggy had fallen through them when the enemy had dropped them. I angled down, Maya followed.

I dropped through the opening and landed on the grass below, scoping out my surroundings.

"FANG!" Nudge cried, running into my arms and hugging me tightly, I hugged her back.

"Hey Nudge."

"Fang!" Gazzy yelled, hugging me.

"Hey Gaz." I said. "Where's Iggy?"

"Over here." Iggy light voice called.

"Hey, Ig." I walked over to him. He was wincing as Nudge bandaged his head up.

"Hey, Fang. How are things?" He asked.

"Oh just peachy!" I said sarcastically, and then added. "I'm rolling my eyes Iggy."

"I know, I get It." coming from Iggy, I knew that was true.

"I know. Now Nudge, fill me in on everything that's happened so far, starting with right after I left you guys in Paris."

"Okay, so here's what happened…" She rattled off everything that had happened beginning with Paris. Apparently they'd flown to Switzerland, where they stayed in a hotel, and then they'd been flying when mixtures of erasers and flyboys had attacked them, Max had now named them eraserboys. "And then Max was abducted and I called you." She finished, her voice breaking again.

Tears were flowing down Nudge's face again and I felt like a wad of cotton had lodged in my throat, from how Nudge described it that battle had been rough, the flock had been drastically out numbered and taken a lot of hard hits, including Max's kidnapping.

"Ok, so first things first, we need to get Max back." I said and knelt down on the on the ground, noticing Maya standing on the outskirts.

"Oh, Maya…. Um. I'm guessing you've been listening in?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Good…" I didn't know what else to say, so I turned back around and saw Dylan walk over to her with a confused look on his face.

"It's Maya, right?" He asked.

"Yup, and you're Dylan." She said matter-of-factly.

"You… You…"

"Look like Max? I know." She actually chuckled a little.

"No, well yes, but that's not what I was gonna say. I was gonna say that you should speak up more and say what's on your mind instead of hiding in somebody Else's shadow, be your own person. So what if you aren't part of this flock, I'm not either."

Maya was totally dumbstruck. Dylan had actually, flat-out, told her that she was nothing like Max, and that she just needed to be _her_. I turned around and looked at Nudge.

"So how much do we know about the eraserboys?" I asked her. "Where did they come from and where are they taking Max?"

"I don't know. But they headed East with Max, so I guess we could start by heading that way."

"Great Idea Nudge." I flipped my phone out again and called Ratchet.

"You're on with Ratchet."

"Ratchet, we're gonna head west. I was thinking that I would go with the flock, I don't know what Maya's gonna do, and you and the others can check out Paris."

"Yeah man, sure. Wait, so what's happening?" He asked with a confused tinge to his voice.

I sighed, not wanting to say it again, but knowing that I had to. "Okay, Max and the flock were flying towards Paris," I heard Nudge inhale quickly and plug her ears, she'd heard enough of it. "And they were found by some new breed of erasers and flyboys. Max was taken. I've gotta help them." I lowered my voice and paced away from the flock. "I've gotta help Max."

"I know man, do what ya gotta do. We'll scope out Paris and tell you if we find anything. Be careful, Fang."

"I will Ratchet. Take care of Star, Holden, Kate, and yourself." I hung up and turned to Maya. "Are you coming with us. You don't have to if you don't want to."

She looked at Dylan. "I think I'll stay."

I nodded and unfurled my 14 foot wings, the flock, Dylan and Maya did the same.

I shot into the sky, enjoying the rush of the wind on my face.

_Hang in there, Max. _I thought. _ We're coming for you._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello!<strong>_

_**I didn't have time to update for a second time last night, but I did update today! This chapter was pretty long, I hope that you liked it! It's getting really intense! What's gonna happen to Max? Will the flock get to her in time? All your questions shall be answered!  
><strong>_

_**Nobody has reviewed so far. A few people have subscribed though! And that makes me extremely happy! Thank you sooo much for doing that! It makes me really happy that people like this story enough to subscribe! Please review! And enjoy the story!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**  
><em>


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

MAX

Everything looked blurry, I closed my eyes. I could almost feel the strength seeping out of my body as my captor pumped more and more drugs into my veins. My hearing was completely clouded; it was like I was hearing everything through a thick sheet of glass.

I knew exactly where I was, but that was hardly a comfort. This was the place of my nightmares nightmare. The place that I'd spent almost half of my horrifying, dramatic, dangerous life in.

The School.

I moaned as the strong scent of antiseptic filled my nostrils and made my stomach convulse, I probably would've thrown up if I'd had any food in my stomach.

A severe pain shot through my entire body and a high-pitched keening began to echo through my eardrums, then I realized that the sound was coming from me.

At that point, I didn't know which way was up or which was down, it felt like I'd turned to jello, or was floating. Somebody laughed darkly, yet with an evil excitement and somebody else screamed, and this time it wasn't me. It was another person whose scream sounded so familiar that it pulled me from my drug-induced daze.

My baby was out there.

_My Angel._

I struggled against my bindings, but to hardly any avail. Somebody started yelling in the background. It sounded something like "Get experiment eleven out of here! It's making experiment 12 go insane!"

"Angel!" I yelled.

But it was too late, they pumped more drugs into me and I blacked out.

* * *

><p>I woke up in a dog cage, no surprise there; I looked around for any other type of mutant. But I was the only one in the antiseptic filled room. To my left, there was a table laden with tools (knives, needles, scalpels, etc.), to my right, an operation table.<p>

It was dark in the room; all of the lights were out. I heard voices echoing down a hallway in front of me, the door opened.

"Ah! Maximum, you're awake! I'm glad to see that you aren't to banged up after a battle with my new creations." Said a man with a heavy accent.

I looked up into the face of…

Dr. Roland ter Borcht.

_Whaaaat? _

"Hey doc." I snarled. "Long time, no see."

"As I was saying. I'm glad that you weren't hurt, that would have been bad."

"Oh would it have? And why, Dr. Crazy, would that be?"

"Because," he said "you are very special Maximum."

"Well thank you, I'm positively _flattered_!" I said sarcastically.

"Flattery wasn't my goal, Maximum. You see, I need you here because you need to continue on your quest to do what you were made to do. Save the-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I know! I need to save the world! But what if I don't?" I leaned against the bars of my cage, daring him to set me off.

"We meant to program you. I thought that we did." He muttered to himself, sounding like a man who belonged in a madhouse. "We sent you messages through the voice in you head! How could you _not_ have some sort of drive to save the Earth?"

"I have many drives, one is to protect my flock, another is to stay away from this heck-hole, and my current drive… is ripping you limb from limb just to hear you scream."

"I hate to say this, but _none _of your drives will take you anywhere for the time being." I noticed that he'd begun to pace back and forth. "Now, get some sleep, you'll need to be well rested for tomorrow, we have something very special planned for you!"

"Gee, thanks for the advice." I sneered.

ter Borcht snapped his fingers and two men came in, one looking extremely nervous.

He said. "Put her out boys."

The men wrenched open my cage door, I was ready, I lunged out, leaping through their arms and landing on the balls of my feet in front of them.

"No you idiots! GET HER! Why the heck would you open the cage with out preparing yourselves for her! WHY, WHY, WHY? Just inject her with the medication and be done with it!" ter Borcht screamed, backing away from me.

The men charged me from both sides, I stepped backwards and they smashed into each other, smacking heads and falling to the ground unconscious.

_Wow, that was easy. _I thought to myself.

I turned to face ter Borcht, glaring daggers.

"Now Maximum! There's no need to be rash! Let's just- Ah!" He shrieked like a little girl when I lunged at him and tackled him to the ground.

"WHERE'S ANGEL!" I thundered, shaking his shoulder violently. "TELL ME NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL FOLLOW MY DRIVE TO TEAR YOU APART!"

"What-"

"I WILL GIVE YOU 5 SECONDS!" I shouted. "5…"

He quivered in fear.

"4…"

His mouth opened.

"3"

His eyes calculated my expression, then widened when he realized how serious my threat was.

"2…"

"Fine!" He cried. "Experiment eleven is in room 404!"

I smiled and lifted him up by his shirt collar.

"Nighty night." I hurled him at the opposite wall, where he crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Sleep tight."

* * *

><p>I ran down the hallway, keeping to the sides, I figured it had to late at night because there was nobody in the halls.<p>

"401, 402, 403…" I counted off the room numbers until I found 404.

I turned the knob and entered into the room.

"Angel?" I asked into the darkness.

I heard a whimper escape from the corner of the room, I sprinted over there.

"Angel, it's me! It's Max!"

"M-max?" she whimpered again. "Why are you here?"

She sounded utterly terrified, anger boiled through my body.

I felt around until I found what felt like a cage, then I slid my fingers down and found the lock.

"Hang on sweetie, I'm gonna get you out." I took a step back and slammed my foot down hard on the lock and it shattered off.

Then I wrenched open the cage door and pulled Angel out of it.

"Max!" she sobbed into my shoulder.

"Angel" I sighed, She was _alive_! My baby was okay! Correction- my baby was not dead, we were at the new and improved school, we'd never be okay if we stayed here. I was so happy I almost cried, _almost. _But I knew I didn't have much time.

I leaned back to get a look at her.

Angels eyes were sunken, her hair in matted curls, her face sallow, her body slim. More anger bubbled; I'd kill these scientists for what they did to her.

"Max! Why are you here?" She asked again.

"It's a long story. But how are you… alive?" I asked, looking deep into her blue eyes, seeing her fear.

"I—I. I don't know!" she sobbed again.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." I said soothingly, patting her head and rubbing her back.

Then the door burst open and I was shocked with 100's of volts of electricity.

The last thing I heard was Angels screams before my head hit the ground because I was thrashing so badly and I was knocked unconscious.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello again!<em>**

**_This chapter was not one of my best. But I hope that you all liked it._**

**_So Angel is alive, Yay! And her and Max are both at the school. Just in case you're wondering, ter Borcht is not dead, Max didn't just kill him when she through him at the wall. So what do he have planned for the reunited bir_****_d kids? Find out when I update tomorrow!_**

**_A very, very, very special thanks to EmIsForMax, who reviewed NINE TIMES! You made me soooooo happy! I hope that even more people review this story!_**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

_**maximumwriter19**_


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

FANG

We were flying over some European country, I don't know which one, and I wouldn't tell you if I did. We'd been flying for over 3 hours and had traveled probably four hundred miles.

"Fang, look down there." Nudge pointed.

I turned my head down and saw a huge building out in the middle of know where, there were things moving on the roof. There were lights on that illuminated a huge field, there were people flitting across it.

"I think that the things on the roof are eraserboys. The have the same bulky build." Nudge called.

I nodded. "Keep flying guys."

We banked left and continued about two miles that way. I angled downwards and landed in a massive tree.

I turned around to look at the flock, Maya, and Dylan.

"Okay, there are too many of us here to properly infiltrate that lair."

I looked around at their confused faces and continued.

"And by the looks of that field, they're planning something. I think we need to go check it out."

"But who's gonna go?" Nudge asked.

"I was thinking that you and I would go to the field, Maya and Dylan would take care of the roof and keep us covered, and Iggy and Gazzy would patrol the entrance and see if there's a way to get into it."

They all nodded, Nudge just stared at me.

"What?" She asked. "You want ME to do that?"

"Nudge, I need you to help me do this. I know that you are up for it." I smiled at her, Iggy squeezed her shoulders consolably. "Hey, Igster, how you holdin up?"

"I'm doing fine. I think Gazzy and I can definitely handle getting into the lab. I'm thinking, like, total explosive _MANIA_!" Iggy yelled, high-fiving the Gasman.

"Okay. Good, let's head out."

Five minutes later, Nudge and I were lying on our stomachs, staring at the giant field. Dylan and Maya had taken care of all of the erasers, who were now lying in a ditch some 400 miles from here. Iggy and Gazzy were almost giddy with excitement, they'd fashioned a bomb from nothing but chili peppers, a broken clock, and a wet match, but it had enough power to blow up a whole army.

"Nudge, look there, it looks like they're getting ready for whatever's coming." I pointed to a group of people who seemed to be conferring about something with an unreal excitement. "They must be brainwashed, nobody talks like that."

She nodded solemnly.

The field was huge. At least the size of 4 football fields square. And it was covered by grass, perfectly green grass. And around it was surrounded by a forty foot tall fence, which was charged with electricity.

"Oh. My. God. How exactly are we supposed to get out of this?" I asked incredulously.

"I know, "Nudge muttered. "I guess we just pray that whatever this is, we can get Max out of it alive."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

_**This was a really short chapter... Sorry about that! I was really, really busy this weekend!**_

__**_A very very very special thanks to ComplicateWreck and blueberryoreo for reviewing! You totally made my day!_**

******_I'm hoping to update by tomorrow! I really hope that you guys liked the chapter!_**

******_Things are heating up! The next chapter should be interesting!_**

******_Thanks!_**

****_**maximumwriter19**_


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

MAX

I jerked awake.

"Angel?" I muttered dully, smacking my head on the top of the dog crate and sighing. "Dang it."

I'd actually had the nerve to think that it'd been a terrible nightmare, of course, it hadn't.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, inching into the very back of the cage and wrapping my arms around my knees.

This was just like when the flock and I had been stuck in here. Except now there was no Fang to tell me stupid fart jokes, or no Gazzy to blame farts on. Now it was just Angel and I, except that I didn't even know if Angel was still in room 404.

The Flock.

Where were they? I don't even remember where they were and if they were even safe…

But I didn't even have time to think about them, because just then, the door opened and a white coat walked in, carrying a bundle in his arms.

"Hello, Maximum." He dragged my cage through the hallway with a pair of crowbars and tossed it into a solid cement room, unlocking the door and throwing the bundle in. "Put this on, or we'll put it on for you, your choice." he sneered, slamming the door shut before I could lung for his throat.

I slammed into the door, leaving a small dent, but nothing more than that.

I picked up the bundle; it was a training suit. It looked as if it had monitors built into it.

Not wanting them to have to put me in it, (I mean talk about _ew!_) I took off my battered and bloody clothes and slid on the silky, yet restricting fabric. I extended my wings, thankfully there were slits in the back for them, and felt them touch the walls to the left and right of me. The door opened again and I shot my wings back in.

"Time to go Maximum, and don't try any funny business, you're not gonna get away." he sneered.

To tell the truth, I felt totally drained, I hadn't eaten in days, and for me, that's like weeks of hunger. So I let him shove me out of the room and down the hallway. He stopped in front of a door that said "Prep" he shoved me in and I stumbled forward, only to smash into a thick sheet of glass, I opened my eyes and saw Angel on the other side of it, a scientist was feeling her muscles and opening her mouth to check her mouth.

"Angel!" I mouthed. She looked at me with wide eyes.

Then I was jerked back, away from the glass and onto a table. A white coat lifted my arms and legs, feeling my abdomen, opening my mouth like they were doing to Angel. It was like we were slaves about to be bought or sold.

"So… Tell me. What do you have planned for me?" I growled as he prodded my abs with his finger.

"Oh… Let's just say that it's, fun for us and not for you." He glared down at me. "You'll informed more when you enter the arena."

"You know, arena's really aren't my thing… Last time they tried to put me in one against sum dummy named Omega, I ended up kicking his butt and breaking a wall open." I chuckled darkly, his face darkened as I reminded him of Itex's most recent attempt to prove that I wasn't as good as some robot who was "Perfect in every way", the Mary Poppins Wanna-be had gotten his face smushed into the mud over a little sight-tracking confusion, as I said.

He slapped me across the face for saying that, of course he'd remember that day when Angel, Nudge, and I had destroyed the head Itex branch. My head snapped to the side.

"Pain fades." I said snidely.

He slapped me the other way.

"But being a nut-job lasts forever." I looked up at him.

His got all crazy and he pulled his fist back, winding up to punch. I just looked up at him with an almost amused look on my face.

He let his fist shoot forward; I merely dipped my head to the side, dodging the punch. Out of annoyance, the idiot white coat grabbed my chin and jerked my head up.

"You listen to me you little _Cretan_! You will die in that arena, our new subjects will defeat you without your ability to fly."

"Uh. How exactly do you plan to render me incapable of flying? Because if you haven't noticed, my wings are kinda _attached to my back!_"

The white coat just looked at me, still holding my face.

"Trevor! Release that experiment immediately!" The door was jerked open and Trevor leapt away from me.

"I- just- she- her- was- Arg!" Trevor stomped out of the room.

The door shut again, and it was just me in the sterile, white room that reeked of antiseptic. I turned towards the window again, Angel was starring at me with a terrified expression, I gave her a confused look, and she just tapped her temple.

I had no idea what she meant.

My stomach growled angrily. I realized that in all of my time spent here, which I think is about 5 days now, I hadn't gotten a single thing to eat, and in calorie-burning-mutant time, 5 days without food is about 2 weeks, in a desert, under the beating sun, constantly running, to a normal human being like you people. I stood up and immediately felt dizzy, so I sat back down.

The door opened again and two white coats came in, both looking solemn. They grabbed each of my shoulders, stood me up, and shoved me out the door into the hallway. We walked from hallway to hallway until I felt like I'd collapse from fatigue. Suddenly, we stopped in front of a large, steel door, which the white coats kicked open, throwing me through it and slamming it behind me.

I stumbled forward and fell on my hands and knees in… grass. What the heck? I mean GRASS, no death traps or knives or anything? Just grass.

Then, I stood and brushed my self off, looking around. I was in a giant arena. And when I say giant, I mean GIANT. This thing was at least 4 football fields long and wide, a buzzing caught my attention, the field was surrounded by a forty foot tall fence that was charged with electricity. I looked up, at least there was no net above the stadium."

I heard a squeal to my left.

_Angel._

She was getting up from being tossed into the stadium, just like me, about 20 feet away from me. I sprinted over to her.

"Max!" She yelled and jumped into my arms; her white wings flapping, and wrapped her skinny arms around my neck.

"Angel! Are you all right? Are you hurt?" I felt her wings to make sure they weren't broken, they weren't, thank God.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm kinda hungry, but not super badly hungry. They fed me a few days ago." Her blue eyes were wide and frightened as she looked around at the stadium. "Max, why are all these people here?"

I looked around the perimeter of the fence. There were hundreds of white coats standing out side, each with a clip board and a pen, watching Angel and I.

"I—I don't know sweetie."

Then, I heard a voice echo throughout he stadium.

"Welcome to the Doomsday groups public exposition of our new subjects against these inferior experiments." Said a sweet voice that sounded totally brainwashed.

_Beth._

Rage bubbled in my stomach.

This brain washed freak was the reason I'd lost Angel in the first place, now her and her group of weirdo's who are trying to destroy the world are here to kill us.

Beth continued. "We will begin the countdown for the doors to open."

"5…" She sang.

I set Angel down. "Stay behind me." I said. She looked at me like I was dumb.

"No way Max. If you're gonna fight, then so am I. It'll be okay." She slipped her little hand into mine and squeezed it, I squeezed back.

"4…"

I tensed for the coming battle, Angel did the same.

** "**3…"

Our audience was beginning to look towards the large garage-like doors on the opposite side of the field.

"2…"

I looked down at Angel. "Don't worry sweetie. It'll all be okay."

"I know." She said.

"1…"

The doors opened to reveal what lay behind them.

I gasped, behind that door were hundreds and hundreds of….

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello!<strong>_

_**I am sooooooo soooooooo sooooooooo sorry that It's taken me so long to update. I was so sick that I couldn't even TYPE this week! But now I feel way better and I typed up this really long chapter! I hope that you all like it! **_

_**A very special thanks to team-twilight95 and ComplicatedWreck for reviewing! Please, please, please keep on reviewing! I have about 6 people who have subscribed! If you like this chapter, then please review! The next one (for all the fang fans out there) is in Fang's POV, I alternate POV's if you haven't noticed... **_

_**Thanks!**_

**_maximumwriter19_**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

FANG

Mutants, hundreds and hundreds of them flooded out onto the field, rushing towards Max and Angel. But before we get into that, let's go back a bit.

_About 5 minutes earlier…_

Nudge and I were still lying on our stomachs, watching the field with all its white coats with clipboards. Then they opened a door and threw Max in. Two more guards entered the arena, making the guard count 8 total.

Max stumbled and fell into the grass, noticing it for the first time and looking at it with a gaze that said, _Grass? Really? No deathtraps or knives?_, that's what I would have thought at least, she may not have thought _exactly _that...

I jerked into a crouch, about to spring downwards into the field, but Nudge grabbed my shoulder and slammed me back down.

"No Fang! We can't just go down there and get her, they'd catch us!"

"But-" I started.

"I know, just be patient." She said and went back to looking at Max, so did I.

Max shook her hair out of her face and wiped grass of her pants, or what ever they were.

"They changed her clothes." Nudge said disgustedly, she hated the outfit Max was in. "I wonder why."

"They probably want it to easier for them to rip her apart." I growled, knowing that that was probably the case.

Another door opened to Max's left and a small, familiar person with Angel-white wings was tossed into the arena as well.

"It's… It's Angel!" I whispered excitedly to Nudge.

"I know! How did she get here? I mean because we couldn't find her in Paris! Oh! I bet she was-" I slapped my hand over Nudge's mouth to stop the flow of words from giving away our position. "Sopree" she muttered the apology into my hand. I released her.

Angel is alive! Max had been right, and I had been so wrong.

Then a voice echoed through the stadium, a voice that was disgustingly familiar. Beth's voice.

Acid burned in my stomach, and my fist's clenched at the sound of her brainwashed voice.

"Welcome to the Doomsday groups public exposition of our new subjects against these inferior experiments." She said in a sweet, distant voice. "We will begin the countdown for the doors to open."

"5…" I leaned over the side of the building for a better look of the field, Max was talking to Angel and all the guards had left the arena.

_Good. _ I thought.

"4…"

I prepared myself for the fight that I was about to insert myself into, Nudge did the same thing.

"3…"

The white coats had all directed there attention to the arena now, all had a look of excitement etched on their faces.

"2…"

I could feel adrenaline pump through my veins, my heart was racing, my body set into it's natural rhythm, finally I was back in my element.

"1…"

The door on the opposite side of the field opened to reveal…

_Real time._

Mutants, hundreds and hundreds of them, all rushing towards Max and Angel.

They were all different; it looked as if each subject's DNA had been laced with a different species, ranging from tigers to donkeys.

Each mutant had a look of rage in their eyes, they snarled and snapped their jaws. They wanted to hurt Max and Angel, they wanted to them dead.

Both Max and Angel launched into the sky, flapping their wings, only to scream and slam back down to the ground after less than a second. They clawed at their suits, trying to get them off, but it was to no avail.

"It's the suits." Nudge muttered to me. "Look at their wings."

There were wires running up and down Max and Angels wings, activated by motion, I'd guess that they sent a bone shaking shock whenever either girl moved their wings.

"They're grounded." I said with a thickness to my voice, now they were stuck on the ground with hundreds of angry and vicious mutants charging at them.

Then they disappeared into a cloud of mutants as the mob reached them and engulfed them. I heard Angel scream and Max cry out, they struggled to defend themselves, throwing punches and dodging the on-coming attackers.

They actually weren't doing to badly, I waited for the right time to jump off the building and help them, both Nudge and I stood up.

The mutants grabbed Max and angel by their arms and started to beat the living crap out of them. Max's struggled her hardest, but I could tell she was tired, and then she collapsed and went limp.

"MAX!" Angel screamed, biting a mutant on the finger, causing it to shrieked and jumped away.

The mutant who had Max pulled out a knife and raised it above their head, Max's eye's fluttered open feebly, but she couldn't rise from her crumpled position because now she was being pinned to the ground.

"FINISH HER!" Yelled the white coats on the edge of the field.

That's when I jumped off the roof, unfurling my wings and diving towards my girls, Nudge right on my tail.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey hey!<strong>_

**_I hope that you liked this chapter, it was moderately long-ish and I thought it was kinda exciting... _**

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	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

MAX

There were at least a thousand freaks sprinting towards Angel and I. I braced for the attack, they were about halfway across the field and moving fast, they'd be on us within 5 minutes.

Angel clenched her little hands into fists and got an adorable look of determination on her face, I would've smiled if I wasn't about to face almost certain death.

_**No Max, don't think about it that way. **_The voice said. _**Think about their weaknesses.**_

_**Gee voice, long time no talk! Any ideas? **_I thought angrily.

Of course, it didn't respond. I sighed and scoped out the cloud of mutants.

There were all sorts of them, ranging from half human-half donkey to half human-half tiger, and it was terrifying. I look at Angel and squeezed her hand, she smiled and braced herself for the onslaught, I followed her lead and curved my spine to lunge.

Then they were on us, and like wild fire, they spread around us, slowly closing in.

"Angel! U and A! Go go go!" We both launched off the ground, I snapped my wings out and flapped.

I'd only been in the air for a second when a volt of electricity shot through my wings. I screamed bloody murder and plummeted to the ground, smashing into it and smacking my head on the ground. The same thing happened to Angel she looked at me with a horrified expression, we both clawed at the suits, attempting to pry them off, but it didn't work.

Once again mutants swarmed us, they grabbed my hands and I jerked away from them, only to be grabbed by another.

Angel screamed and I rushed over to her, shoving mutants out of my way as I went. She was pinned to the ground by what I think was a boy of about 14 or 15, I grabbed him by the hair and threw him backwards, sending him smashing into a clot of subjects.

I grabbed Angel from off the ground. "Are you okay?" I yelled.

She nodded.

I inhaled a deep breath and shook my head in a attempt to get the dizziness out of it, I was really hungry and really tired, but I kept fighting.

Angel was battling at least three at a time, she landed a few kicks and punches and so did I, but we each remained on the defense instead of the offense.

I actually thought that we could make it for more than five minutes, until I was grabbed in the back and jerked down to the ground, claws dragged down my arms and dug into my skin, blood ran out. I struggled and got three more gashes to the stomach, I felt even more light headed than before due to a rapid blood loss.

Four mutants pinned me to the ground, I struggled against their hold and managed to get back up, but then another wave of fatigue, this time worse than any of the others.

I collapsed onto the ground and was immediately pinned again, I moaned and tried to get up again, but instead my eyes closed against their will and I blacked out and came-to in the same second.

My eyes opened weakly and I looked up into the face of a tiger-human hybrid. They wore an expression of bloodlust and had a knife risen above their head.

"Maaaaaax!" I heard Angel scream, it sounded like I had cotton in my ears, everything sounded quiet and seemed to happen in slow motion. I didn't even have the energy to swear like a sailor at them.

"FINISH HER!" yelled the white coats.

The mutant began to bring the knife downwards, aiming for my heart…

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey howdy hey!<strong>_

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	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

FANG

The wind rushed through my hair and my wings were tucked in so that I was diving at an amazing velocity.

About 10 feet above the cloud of swarming freaks, I snapped my wings back out, my legs swung forward, nailing a few unlucky mutants in the head, knocking them out cold. Score one for Fang.

Nudge lunged onto the mutants and clawed them off of Angel.

"Nudge, grab her and get her out of here, carry her as far as you can!" I yelled, Nudge nodded and swooped into the mass, extracting the little seven-year-old and soaring upwards.

"Hurry Fang!" She yelled as she rose up and out of the throng, I didn't respond, instead I searched for Max.

I found her sprawled out on the ground in the epicenter of all the chaos, being pinned down by 6 mutants while another stood over her with a knife.

"NO! NO! THEY ARE ESCAPING! GET THEM, GET THEM!" Shrieked the white coats, sounding like madmen as they watched Nudge and Angel, exit the field and fly away, disappearing into the forest beyond.

I shot towards Max, landing on the mutant with the knife and throwing him around 40 feet, it's amazing what you can accomplish when you're mad.

I wrenched all of them off of Max, and went to pick her up, but the mutants had other Ideas.

I got a sharp kick to my lower back and slammed into the ground, but I recovered quickly and shot into the air, leaving Max on the ground. From the sky I had the advantage, I was untouchable, but Max wasn't. So, I dipped and dove over the angry experiments-gone-wrong, knocking some out and sending other flying. I battled my way through them until I was right above Max.

I wrapped my arms around her and shot skyward, she didn't even move. I continued up until I was under cloud cover, then took a sharp left and angled gradually downward until I was right above the forest.

"Nudge!" I called. "Come up!"

I heard her wings open and then she was flying next to me, Angel still in her arms and tears running down both of their faces.

"Is she-" Nudge started.

"I don't know." I cut her off. "Let's go join the others, Iggy and Gazzy should be coming-"

"Right about now!" I heard the familiar voice of Iggy from behind me.

"Ig! You okay?"

"Yeah! We're fine!" Gazzy yelled, rising out of the forest with Iggy right next to him, soot covered both of their faces, and I wondered what they'd blown up at casa de la crazy (aka the Itex/DG building).

"Fang!" Nudge yelled to me, I could see her falling behind. "Can we land soon, I'm getting tired." she smiled "Angel ways a ton."

The girls giggled together.

"Sure, Nudge." I looked around, "We'll land near that stream down there and recoup a for a few minutes, we can get those sensors off of your wings Angel." I said to the girls, turning back around. I looked down at Max's limp form in my arms, she was still out cold, which worried me, the sooner we landed, and the sooner I could check out her injuries.

We angled downwards in perfect sync, landing softly next to the little creek that ran through the forest. I looked around; checking against immediate danger, there was none.

I set Max down and leaned my head down to the left side of her chest, listening for a heartbeat and feeling her neck for a pulse. The telltale beat of her heart thumped in both places, I sighed in relief, wiping her hair off of her face, which was streaked with blood from a head wound.

Nudge let Angel jump out of her arms, turning her around so that her back was facing Nudge's arms, Nudge poked at the wires for a couple seconds, deciding what to do.

"Iggy?" She called.

"Yeah?" he yelled black, wiping his face clean of soot via stream water (how he found the creek by himself in the first place without any help from us still remains a mystery) and turning in the direction of Nudge's voice.

"Come over here, I need you to check if these sensors are locked into Angels wings."

He came over and immediately began sliding his fingers gently along the wires that ran across the white wings of Angel.

"They're not, but they are attached to the back of the suit. You'll need ot take the whole thing off…" he said.

"Okay! Thanks, Ig!" Nudge beamed at him and grabbed his hand, putting it on her face to show him she was smiling, and he smiled to. "Now C'mon Ange, let's go get you some normal clothes and out of that shock-suit. Fang, I think we should get Max out of it to, I have extra clothes for her in the bag." I nodded and Nudge grabbed Angel's hand and the small backpack that held extra clothes and they walked off together behind a few trees, me following with Max in my arms.

"Hey, Angel." I said, and scooped her up into my arms. "When Max wakes up, you have to tell us everything sweetie." I whispered into her matted curls, kissing her forehead.

"I know!" She grimaced and hopped out of my arms. "Now you." she pointed to me, the around the line of trees "Go!"

I ran my hand through my hair. "Kay."

Iggy and Gazzy were sitting by a pile of sticks, about to light a small bomb on fire to light the fire.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I yelled, snatching it out of their hands. "Explosives? Really? _Really?_"

"Uh, Yeah!" They slapped a perfect high five, and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, don't start a fire yet…" their faces fell. "Wait until we meet up with Dylan and Maya, we're pretty close, but I think that we should fly out of Switzerland at least."

"Yeah, me too." Iggy said standing up. "Nudge is coming." He said, looking at the exact place that Nudge appeared in about a second.

_He recognizes the sound of her _**footsteps? **I thought bewilderedly, but Nudge said my name and pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Fang!" She yelled, looking at me worriedly, with and expression that said 'Oh God, don't you go losing your mind on us now!'.

"Yeah?" I said, looking at her with an expressionless stare, as usual.

"Uh, Max is out of the suit, but we uh… can't lift her soooo…"

"Oh, alright." I followed her around the trees and saw Max lying on the grass, looking almost peaceful, except for the fact that she had blood running down her arms and head. "Thanks Nudge."

"N-no prob-blem." She stuttered, sounding on the verge of crying. "Fang?"

"Yeah?" I said, pulling my eyes away from Max and looking up at a terrified looking Nudge.

"Is—Is Max gonna die?" She wailed.

Just then, both Angel (now changed into jeans and a t-shirt) and Gazzy came around the trees as well.

"WHAT? MAX IS DYING?" They screamed.

"WHAT?" Iggy yelled running up behind Angel and Gazzy.

They all started yelling different things simultaneously.

"NO! No everybody shut up for a second!" I yelled above the babble, I took a deep breath before starting. "Max _is not going to die!_ She's gonna be just fine, but we, however, will not be fine if we don't get away from here now!"

We were back in the sky within seconds, everybody silent, Max was wrapped tightly in my arms, and there was no way in the deepest pit of heck that was I gonna drop her. She moaned quietly and I looked down at her, but she remained still and didn't make another sound.

I sighed, thinking about the past hour.

We'd found Max, and Angel! I'd thought they were both… dead… for a while. But now Angel was flying NO MORE than 5 feet away from me (just in case) and Max was safe in my arms again. At least, I thought she was safe, but who knows if she's even healthy.

My stomach clenched as blood ran down her head again, I flew faster, the flock sped up too, all wanting to land ASAP.

I saw the ditch with all the eraserboys in it miles below, so I knew that Dylan and Maya would be close.

So I landed on the ground.

"Maya...? Dylan?" I called.

They both swung down from a tree just above me, landing, and then looking utterly confused. The flock had joined me, and Angel was with them.

"But… I thought… She… Paris… Looked…" Dylan stuttered then looked down at Max, who was still asleep in my arms, his arms narrowing. "Give her to me." he growled.

"I think I've got it, thanks." I said back to him with just as much venom. "Oh… and I'll take tonight's watch. Flock, get some sleep. Maya, Dylan, I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but sleep is probably a good idea."

Maya nodded and flew back into the massive oak tree; Dylan took one more look at me, glared, and then flew up into his own tree. That left the flock and me.

We stacked our fists, just like we used to, and they flew off into the trees.

I sat down and leaned my back against a tree and faced the creek that we'd landed at a little while ago. I lay Max down, sitting with her head in my lap and dabbing the cut on her head with a wet shred of fabric that I'd torn off an extra shirt. She shifter her position a bit and her wings extended about a foot. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed.

Now all I could do was sit here and wait for Max to wake up…

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello!<strong>_

_**This chapter was very long! I hope that you enjoyed it! I think it was pretty interesting.**_

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	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

MAX

My head was killing me, I had a sense of consciousness, but a cloud of sleep still seemed to lay over me.

I heard someone's steady breathing above my head and a pair of strong arms were wrapped around me.

_Am I dead? _I thought. No, because I can feel my pain and... arms, and I can hear the breathing, I wouldn't be able to do either if I were dead.

_Then where am I? _I was totally spazzing out on the inside, and then my blood ran cold. _The School again?_

**No Max. **The voice said.

I didn't even respond, instead I focused more on the breathing above me and the arms around me, now that I wasn't at the school I was very intrigued on who was touching me.

I rolled onto my side and soon felt the soft cotton of somebodies... shirt think... against the side of my face and my head rising and falling with each breath of another person, comforting warmth seared the side of my face.

"Max?" Whispered a heart-breakingly familiar voice.

I didn't respond, instead I just lay there, believing that this was just a dream or that I was dead, either way, I did not want it to end.

"Max?" They said again, a little louder this time.

I whimpered.

"Max, please wake up." He whispered more urgently, but I refused to open my eyes or even think his name. "Max, it's me! It' Fang!" I winced internally." You're not dead, and you're not dreaming!"

How did he know me_ so well _that he even knew the cause of my refusal to open my eyes? Oh yeah, that's right, because he's known me for all fifteen of my sorry years!

He sighed and gave me a squeeze.

"C'mon Max. I know you're awake, and I think you know that I'm real." He whispered into my ear and wiped a strand of hair from my face.

I shook my head stubbornly, burying my face into his chest; he chuckled and lifted my chin to his face.

"Open your eyes Max." He said.

"No." I whimpered.

"Please." He begged me.

I slowly opened my eyes, starting at a squint and opening to their fullest after about a whole minute of lifting my lids.

I gasped, seeing his face so close for the first time in months, sent jitters into my stomach, I looked down.

"There they are." He muttered of my eyes, I almost smiled.

I took a deep breath and pushed off from his chest, sitting crisscross-apple-sauce in the grass and looking him in the eye.

"Why are you here?" I asked, not in the annoyed, rude way, but in the super duper curious, yet tired way and cocked my head to the side, probably looking like a confused four year old.

"Nudge called." He replied. So now we're back to two syllable sentences.

"So…." I urged him to go on.

"So, she begged me for help because she didn't want Dylan to lead her. I said I'd help get you back." He said.

"Why?"

"Because I care about you. You know that."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes, really! Max, I left because I care about you. I'm here because I care about you. When will you get it that I do and always will care about you?" He asked, annoyed.

My head snapped at his words up and I finally looked at him, lost for words for a second. Of course I knew that what he said was true, but lately I'd been tottering on the point of not believing it. Of course I knew he cared, but sometimes it's hard to believe.

Fang was wearing all black, as usual, and his hair was getting longer. It wasn't as long as it used to be but his bangs were growing out and they were swished to the side. I grinned at his expression, which was worried, Fang was still unmasked around me, which still hadn't changed, that made my grin widen a bit.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." I said, shaking my head. "It's just… Nothing."

I pushed off from the ground and looked down at him, but I immediately felt woozy and toppled back over. I resigned to just sitting in the grass.

"You okay?" He asked softly.

"Oh yeah I'm just peachy." Then I froze. "Where's Angel? Where's the flock? Dylan? Your gang, even? What about -" My speech was muted as he gently placed a hand over my mouth.

Everything came flooding back as I was stopped from talking.

I'd been about to die, Angel was trapped like me, and I'd passed out.

I'd left the flock under Iggy's command, or Nudge. What if they'd been captured as well?

Fang pulled me out of my thoughts. "All fine. Angel has a story to tell us, I haven't heard it yet, I thought you'd want to hear it first, too. And my gang, except for Maya, is in Paris."

"And Maya is…"

"Uh… Maya is here. She came with me-"

"Oh." I said, ignoring the ache in my heart.

"Because, you know, she has wings and I flew here. My gang was gonna come too, but I decided that there were already enough people. And Dylan said this gushy thing to Maya and she said she'd stay and I didn't wanna just send her away because-"

I silenced him with my hand this time, grinning at his description of Dylan, which was the same words I'd used earlier.

"Gosh, you're turning into Nudge." I grinned awkwardly. "Whoa, never thought I'd be saying that to _you._"

"I fmo rite?" He mumbled against my hand, which I removed.

"Anyways, tell me everything that's happened since you decided to help the flock and Dylan… Uh… save me…."

"Well, I was in Paris telling my flock my plan to find the DG, when my phone rang and it was you."

"No it wasn't-" I started.

"Let me finish." he cut me off.

I made a zipping motion across my lips and pretended to lock them and throw away the key, he grinned the grin that only he could pull off and my heart stuttered for a second.

_Stupid emotions. _ I thought angrily. _Why can't I get a break?_

He picked up where he left off. "And it was you, so I picked it up and Nudge was freaking out on the other end. She said Iggy was hurt and you were taken and that she needed my help because she didn't want to be stuck with Dylan to lead them because he's not even a flock member." I took a deep breath. "So I said I'd help and Maya and I flew here."

I nodded.

"Then Nudge told me everything that happened. Dylan and Iggy were okay and you were gone, so I said that we'd get you back, and I kept my promise."

I gave him a look that said 'and then?'

"And then we found the building and saw you and Angel get thrown out into that field and start battling the mutants, you passed out and Angel was trapped." I shuttered involuntarily. "Nudge and I were on top of the building near the arena, Iggy and Gazzy were blowing things up on the other side of the warehouse, and Dylan and Maya took care of all the eraserboys."

"So you heard about the new breed?" I whispered.

"Mmmmhmmm." He said.

"Nudge?" I asked.

"Yuppers." He said.

"Continue." I begged.

"Nudge and I dove off the building, Nudge clawed Angel out of the battle and flew off with her, I took the knife out of the mutants hands and threw him like forty feet, then they tackled me and I shot into the sky and fought them from there." He closed his eyes for a second. "I saw you lying there, the mutants were all busy fighting me, and I dove and grabbed you, praying you weren't dead." He stopped for a second and an awkward silence engulfed us.

"Then what." I murmured softly.

"Then, I flew off with you, called Nudge to come up with me, and then Iggy and Gazzy joined us. We landed at a stream and Nudge and Angel got you out of that suit."

I looked down at my clothes.

I was wearing some straight leg jeans that were so broken in, they were as movable as stretch cotton, a t-shirt that had slits in the back for my wings and said "No one knows my limits" on it which was so true (excluding Fang, who knows everything that there is to know about yours truly, to my disdain) I, and some Chuck Taylor's. I smiled and silently thanked Nudge for putting me into something I could fight and fly in.

"Oh... good." I sighed, still smiling.

"Then we met up with Dylan and Maya here and Dylan was all mad because I was carrying you and was like 'Give her to me!' but that's not important. I took the first and only watch."

"Wait. You haven't slept _at all?_" I said. "Fang, why would you do that?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"I wanted to stay up with you and make sure that you were okay. You've been out cold for 5 hours." He said.

"Wow."

"Uh huh. Now c'mon, let's get some food."

He stood up and held out a hand to help me up. I took it, feeling to weak to stand by myself.

I felt totally off balance and I stumbled forward, only to be caught around the waist by Fang. He kept his hand on my back to steady me. "Thanks." I muttered awkwardly and then I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him hard. "For everything yesterday and I guess today."

"You're welcome." He whispered into my hair, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me back. "It was the least I could do after all I've done to you and the flock." He said quietly, I nodded slowly.

We stayed like that for a while, neither of us wanting to let go. I'd missed him so much, and if he was going to leave again, then I wanted to get in as much as I could in the short time we had together. He seemed to feel the same way.

The sun started to rise and I knew that this day was going to be interesting...

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hola Amigos!<strong>_

___**This chapter was also one of the longer ones. I hope that you liked it! Sorry I took so long to update, I have been busy with sports and school and family and sleep and homework and yada yada yada.**_

_**Thanks to **_**_teamtwilight95, RandomReader15, Ryu's Girl, MaxRideLuver02, Alicia, Daniel, and to three unknown reviewers who didn't put down a username. Please at least put down a Random letter or name so that I can thank you! Reviews have reached 30! I was so happy that I randomly started dancing when I got review number 30! Keep on reviewing if you've already reviewed and start reviewing if you haven't! If you didn't like this chapter, then review and tell me what I can do to fix it!  
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****_**I hope that the story is going the way that all you readers want it to, this story if how I want "Nevermore" to end so if JP is reading this, I hope that I'm somewhat close to the books plot, although I doubt that will happen. Haha. Enjoy readers!**_

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><strong>_


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

FANG

Max was awake and I knew it, even before she turned over and laid the side of her face against my chest.

I'd stayed up all night, but I wasn't even the least bit tired, I was busy focusing on Max's steady breathing to be tired.

"Max?" I asked.

She didn't respond.

"Max?" I said louder.

I sighed nervously.

"Max. It's me! It's Fang! You're not dead and you're not dreaming." I said.

She shook her head and buried her face in my chest.

I sighed and gave her a squeeze, and then I lifted her chin and pulled her face up until it was level with mine. "Open your eyes Max." I whispered.

She slowly opened her lids and as she did, my stomach began to get butterfly's, my heart sped up and I prayed that she wouldn't hear it.

Then her eye's flew open and she gasped at seeing my face so close. I kept myself from gasping, but my heart was pounding in my chest. She looked away.

"There they are." I whispered, her chocolate brown eyes had been full of the wonder I'd missed for so long.

She pushed off of me and sat crisscross apple sauce in the grass next to me, the wind dancing through her hair.

"Why are you here?" She asked, sounding confused.

"Nudge called." I said simply.

"So…."

I told her everything that had happened since I'd met Nudge in the forest. She nodded and attempted to interrupt a few times but I silenced her with my hand.

"Wow." She said when I was done and told her how long she'd been out.

"Uh huh. Now C'mon, let's get some food." I held my hand out to her and she took it, I pulled her easily to her feet, she weighed almost nothing to me.

She stumbled forward and I wrapped my arms around her waist, and stabilized her, keeping a hand on her back so she didn't fall.

"Thanks." She murmured, looking into my eyes. "For yesterday and I guess today too." Then she slowly wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me. I stood there for a second and then wrapped my arms around her waist tightly.

"You're welcome." I muttered into her hair. "It was the least I could do after all I've done to you and the flock." She nodded slowly.

We stood there like that for a while; I never wanted to let her go. Her soft hair, her warmth, her dark chocolate eyes that always seem to pick apart my thoughts without a second glance. I held her tightly, feeling like if I let her go, she'd disappear forever.

When the sun started rising, we broke apart, this morning was going to be interesting.

* * *

><p>I kept my hand on her back for stabilization, and she stepped forward, I stepped with her. A soft thump to the left of us made us both jump.<p>

"Max!" Dylan yelled, shoving me out of the way and lifting her up off the ground.

"Ow!." She yelled, looking at me over his shoulder, she looked really annoyed and winced, he'd probably touched the big gash on her stomach..

"Put her down you big dummy!" I yelled, pulling Max out of his arms and setting her down gently on the ground.

"You don't speak for her!" Dylan yelled, running at me and putting his face right up to mine, we were the same height, but he was bulkier than me.

I felt a soft tug on my jean leg; I tore my glare away from Dylan and saw Max sitting next to me, her eye's nervous.

"Don't Fang." She whispered pleadingly. "Please."

I took a step back and Dylan took another step towards me.

"Hey, Dylan." I growled. "Just cool it. I don't want to fight you."

"That's just because you know you'd lose." He spat.

"Dylan!" Max yelled weakly.

HE put a hand out to silence her, that made me mad, but I controlled it, Max was weak. Us fighting would only stress her out.

"You shouldn't have come here." Dylan ranted. "You've broken her too many times to count."

"Like I don't know that!" I yelled.

"Well you don't seem to because you keep doing it!"

"Dylan! Stop! Do you not realize that Fang just saved my _life_?" Max cried. "He's done some stupid things. And I mean _dumb. _Like super duper mega dumb, maybe even the stupidest choices that anybody has every made in the name of love, or even—"

"Max, I think he get's it." I muttered so that only Max could here me.

"Oh right… Yeah. Anyways. He may have made some dumb choices, but he still saved me from the school, when I was about to die and needed saving, he was there. So don't go attacking him because, I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for him." She glared. "And I can speak for myself just fine."

"So you chose him?" Dylan yelled.

"I'm not choosing anybody. I'm just telling you that he made a mistake, but I here thanks to him and Nudge."

Then four other pairs of wings unfurled and the flock landed in the grass next to us.

"MAX!" Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel yelled. Iggy walked over and touched my shoulder.

"Everything okay?" he asked, sensing the tension in the air.

"Fine." I said. Walking away from Dylan and going over to the flock's group hug around Max. "Who's hungry flock?"

"ME!" They all chorused.

* * *

><p>Iggy and I ended up flying to McDonalds and buying 40 McGriddles and 10 orange juices.<p>

"Oh…." Max moaned as she ate food for the first time in days. Have I mentioned that's like weeks in mutant time? I probably haven't.

"Taste good?" I asked, grinning and sitting down next to her.

She had her bare feet in the creek, a breeze was running through the forest, blowing her hair in every direction, she looked like an angel with her wings opened behind her.

"Yup." She said as she ate her tenth McGriddle and looked at me, then laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"Hold still." She said, reaching up towards my hair. "You have a piece of egg in your hair." she laughed harder as I crossed my eyes trying to see the supposed egg, she picked it out for me and tossed it into the water muttering "Here fishy's!"

I looked at her laughing face and burst out laughing myself, it was just like old times when we were little, like brother and sister. We stopped for a second, both thinking the same thing:

_So… are things back to normal now?_

I looked at her befuddled expression and she looked at mine and we burst out laughing again. She leaned into me and I leaned into her, it reminded me of when she escaped from that containment cell and got rid of Max 2/Maya, who'd tried to kill us. We'd drank warm, flat coke.

She looked up at me. I was about a foot taller than her now, I'd grown more and she hadn't, I could tell she hated it. Her brown eyes deciphered everything I was thinking.

A breeze blew through the forest again, blowing my bangs in front of my eyes. She reached up and wiped them back in place with a grin. I caught her hand and she froze, I held her warm hand to my face and watched as her eyes went from wide as dinner plates, to pleasantly surprised.

"I… I…" She stuttered, still holding my gaze with her caramel chocolate eyes and staring deep into my eyes.

"Sorry." I said, letting her go.

"No. It's… okay." she smiled, patting my hand.

We sat like that, her hand over mine, her feet dangling into the stream and our wings touching. I put mine out farther, protecting and I from the wind. We just looked into each others eyes and sat there, I felt like I was seeing her for the first time all over again; until the pitter-patter of little feet pulled us out of our trances.

Angel sat down in front of us and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready to tell you my story." She said weakly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hi hi!<strong>_

_**So... I updated again! I hope you liked it! **_

_**Thanks to abc (who updated TWICE! :)) Faxalltheway, Snowswirl66, and an unknown person. Again, PLEASE PUT DOWN A USERNAME! But I still really appreciate the fact that you reviewed! Please keep reviewing! You guys all rock and it makes me super happy when you say that I sound like JP when I write!**_

_**I hope you liked this chapter as well, I thought it was good... but then again, I'm the writer so... For all those FAX fans, it was probably good... Mylan fans probably hated it. I'm sorry Mylans... but... well... I hope you still enjoy the story, keep reading even if you a Mylan fan! I promise it will be good! But I'm not saying there will be FAX, but I'm not saying Mylan either. There could be Maylan or... or... I don't know... Just keep reading! Haahaa. Sorry if that rant was boring or anoying...**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

MAX

Fang had my hand pressed to his face and I had my hand on top of his hand, we looked into each others eyes, reading the thoughts that lay inside. The wind was blowing and the creek was gurgling softly, we were both thinking the same thing:

_So…. Are things back to normal now? _

It was like when we were little, like brother and sister. It still felt like I could tell him anything, even after all that he's done. It was nice, I felt whole again, or at least mended.

Then Angel walked in front of us and sat down. "Okay." she said, "I'm ready to tell you my story."

I blinked at her for a second, utterly confused. I looked at Fang and he looking at me, his eyes explained everything.

Angel was going to tell us how she ended up in the new and improved school.

"Oh- okay sweetie." I stuttered smiling at her, pulling her into my arms and kissing her forehead.

She took another deep breath. "Okay, so Gazzy and I were running through the tunnel, we thought that we'd disabled the bomb." I heard Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy sit down behind us; they wanted to hear, too. Dylan leaned against a tree next to me and Maya stood next to him.

Angel grimaced and continued. "But then the bomb went off and we took to the air, but just as I was about to fly through the opening, somebody grabbed me and I slammed into the top of the tunnel and blacked out." She took in another shaky breath. "When I woke up, I had a tube down my throat and my ears felt like they had cotton in them. Somebody was talking to me."

Fang squeezed my hand, I looked at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"They said 'You are very superior Angel' and 'We are your friends'. I tried to send you a thought Max, but it didn't work. Then everything went black again."

A tear rolled down her face and I hugged her and rocked her back and forth.

"T-then I woke up in a cage. A-and they pulled me out of it when they saw I was awake, they fed me a sticky yellow thingy and then made me run through a maze. I heard them talking about you Max, they said 'Maximum ride left Paris. She's been spotted in Switzerland.' I made it out of the maze and I tried to read their mind to see what they were planning, but I couldn't read their minds at all, I was terrified, Max, I'd never felt so alone. They put me through so m-many tests... It h-hurt M-max. I-I thought I'd n-never see y-you g-guys again." She sobbed.

I heard Nudge sniffle and turned around.

Her head was on Iggy's shoulder and he had his arm around her. Nudge's face was streaked with tears. I turned back to Angel, felling a little confused about those two, but I ignored it and focused on Angel again.

"Then they put me on a table and gave me these terrible shocks, it hurt Max, I wanted to die." She shook her head. "And then… when they tossed me into my cage that night, they were talking about how you'd been captured and something about a public execution. Then, when I was sitting in the dark, the door opened and you came in and got me out of the cage." She finished her story and looked from me to Fang and back again.

"Wow." I said. "Wait… So you can't read minds anymore?"

Angel shook her head sadly. "I can't even read your mind Max, and I've _always _been able to read your mind. You too Fang, Nudge, Gazzy." A tear ran down her cheek.

"It'll be okay Ange. Maybe it's just post stress or something like that." I squeezed her again.

"Max." Fang said.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Well, what happened to you?" He asked me.

"I came to on an operation table, everything looked blurry but I knew where I was: the school. Then they were hurting me everywhere and I was screaming..." I shuddered involuntarily, Angel patted my cheek and Fang rubbed my shoulders. "I heard one of the white coats cackle and I heard Angel scream, so I struggled, but then they knocked me out."

I brought in a shaky breath.

"I woke up in a dog cage and you'd never guess who came into the room to chat." I looked around at the flock and Dylan solemly.

"Who was it, Max?" Fang asked.

"Yeah who?" Nudge whispered.

"ter Borcht. The nut job who tried to publicly execute us the last time."

Fang let out a low growl.

Iggy stiffened.

Nudge whimpered.

Angel nodded, knowing that what I said was true because she'd seen ter Borcht too.

Gazzy farted fearfully, we all cringed away from the stench.

Dylan just looked utterly confused, he'd only been with us for less than a month, and he was only eight months old.

"And..." Fang urged.

"And then he called some guys in to take me out of the cage and I kicked there butts and smashed him into a wall, after he told me where Angel was."

"Nice!" Gazzy yelled.

I grinned slightly, then it faded. "Then I found Angel. But the white coats found me and they sent tons of volt of electricity into me. I passed out... Again." I groaned with he memory."Then they dragged my cage through a hallway and into a room. Then they made me but that suit on and walked me to a prep room for the fight, Angel was on the other side of a glass wall, I saw her."

Angel nodded."I was trying to read your mind, Max. But I couldn't. That's what I was trying to tell you."

I nodded in understanding. "Then they threw me out into the field and... well you know what happened from there Fang." I looked at him sadly.

"I don't!" Gazzy and Iggy yelled.

Nudge leaned her head up to Iggy's ear and whispered what had happened in the field, then Iggy carried the message on to Gazzy, both of them were speechless.

We sat in silence, taking in everything that had happened.

"Max?" Fang said, my head turned towards him.

"Yeah?" I cocked my head to one side.

"We should probably fly back… to the states." He said.

My heart sped up. He'd said _we._

"W-we?" I stuttered.

"Well…. Yeah. Ratchet called earlier this morning…. He said..." Fang said.

"What? Spit it out." I nudged his shoulder.

"He said that there was a showing on the big screen that the DG did. The gang went to see it in the square. And…. your mom was on it, with Jeb and Ella."

"What?" I murmured. "They were brainwashed." My voice choked.

"Yeah and she was talking about how the DG was having an exposition in the states, and that the entire group was migrating back to the U.S. She was going to be leading it, Jeb and Ella will be there, too."

I nodded slowly, taking it all in.

My mom was brainwashed.

My sister was brainwashed.

Jeb was brainwashed.

And they were going back to the United States.

"You're right. We need to go back. Either way I'm sick of Europe." I opened my wings. "Let's fly."

Everybody opened their wings and we shot into the sky.

* * *

><p>I can't even tell you how amazing it felt to fly again, after being shocked like crazy the last time, you think I'd be a little nervous. But I, Maximum Ride, wasn't.<p>

I closed my eyes as I caught a wind current and coasted, it was positively amazing. I heard the beat of Fangs wings (yes, I recognize the sound of his wings).

"Max, What's the plan?" He asked, grinning at my peaceful expression.

"Uh… Do you have any money?" I asked tentatively.

"No. So… what's the plan?" He asked.

"We don't have any money, but we're gonna try to fly over the Atlantic?" I said. "How exactly, is that gonna work?"

"I don't know…." He looked thoughtful. "But my gang is meeting us at the tip of Portugal, we're headed that way right?"

"Yes sir." I nodded.

"Ratchet can probably get us some cash." Fang said.

"Sure. We should be there in like in hour." I said.

"Good."

I nodded and beat my wings in sync with his.

**Be careful Max. Things can get messy quickly. Always be ready.**The voice chanted in my head.

I rolled my eyes.

_What's that supposed to mean voice? _I asked.

**Careful when you balance on the edge Max, there's always a greater chance of falling. **The voice said.

The last thing I thought was _what the heck?_

Then an agonizing pain exploded in my head and my wings folded in. I didn't even have enough consciousness to scream.

"MAX!" Fang yelled.

"MAX!" Dylan also yelled.

But I was beyond hearing, I was beyond thinking, I was beyond everything.

I was plummeting to the ground.

And my head was killing me.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated again! Yaya! I hope that you guy's liked it. Things are once again getting intense! **_

_**Thanks to MaxRideLuver02, Snowswirl66, Faxalltheway, sammie, and abc for reviewing. You guys totally rock! Please keep reviewing, if you haven't reviewed, but you've read this, then PLEASE REVIEW SO THAT I KNOW THAT YOU ARE READING THIS! Thanks!**_

_**I will update as soon as I can, I hope that you guys are enjoying the story. (FAX fans probably like it more than MYLANS, but oh well).**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

FANG

I was super shaken up by Angel and Max's story. It sounded like they'd been through heck.

Then I told her about my talk with Ratchet, her face had lit up when I'd said _we _needed to go back to the states, but it had fallen again when I'd told her about her Mom, Ella, and… Jeb.

* * *

><p>It felt amazing to take to the sky's on our way to the tip of Portugal, how we'd get across the Atlantic was another story, but it was awesome to fly. Max's face was the image of peace as she flew along on a warm jet stream and coasted. I grinned.<p>

Everything was perfect.

Then Max got this annoyed and confused look on her face and I had a feeling the voice was talking to her, but I didn't ask, she still seemed fine.

Until she screamed, clutching her head and letting her wings fold in like paper, dropping like a marionette doll cut from its strings.

"MAX!" I yelled, but she was beyond hearing me.

"MAX!" Dylan also shouted.

"Oh no no no no!" Angel wailed. "Fang! Do something!"

But I was already diving towards Max, wings tucked and body pencil straight.

I'd done this once before, on her first ever brain attack, I hated to say it, but I was like an old pro in the whole Max's- crazy-brain-attack-that-causes-her-to-drop-out-of-the-sky thing.

She was in a death spiral, her hands clutching her head like steal vices, her wings folded, and her body tumbling through the air.

Dylan was behind me, diving with his wings tucked too. I could hear him shooting downwards, but he had more air resistance because he was bigger, I beat him to her.

I wrapped my arms around Max's waist and snapped my wings out simultaneously, soaring back up into the sky.

"Keep flying guys, landing won't help her." They all nodded.

"Nudge, what happened?" Iggy asked Nudge.

"Max had a brain attack." She said.

"And?"

"Fang caught her."

"Oh. Good." He said.

Dylan flew up to me.

"What's happening to her?" He asked as Max curled up in my arms and gasped in pain, tears running down her beautiful face. I adjusted her wings so that they were folded into the divots in her back and not smushed at awkward angles against my arms.

"She's having a brain attack." I said simply, looking away from him as Max whimpered again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He yelled. "Give her to me! She'll be safer with me!"

Just after he said that, Max clutched a bunch of my shirt with her hand and made a fist, clinging to me. She whimpered piteously.

"Don't worry Max, you're safe. We're here. I'm here." I whispered, squeezing her.

Dylan snarled and flew back into position.

I knew that Max didn't know it was me who was holding her, but that didn't stop me from feeling all gooey (Yes, the emotionless Fang said gooey) inside when she clung to me when Dylan told me to give her to him. It felt like she didn't want to let me go as much as I didn't want to let her go. I would've smiled if she wasn't clutching me in agony right now.

"Fang? Are we gonna land soon?" Nudge asked.

"Yeah, we're meeting Ratchet, Holden, Star, and Kate at the tip of Portugal."

"Well that narrows things down." She muttered sarcastically.

I smirked. "We have like 8 hours to go until we get there. So we'll land for the night when the sun sets."

"And that is… When?"

"About half an hour." I said. "We're in the countryside of France, so we'll try to find a cave to land in or something."

She nodded. "Okay!" Then glanced nervously at Max, and went to take her position next to Iggy.

I looked down at Max.

Her eyes were whizzing around beneath her lids, seeing something I wasn't, and her hand, which was still holding my shirt, was contracting and releasing the bunch of black fabric on and off with each wave of pain. She'd moan and whimper a lot, but she didn't scream again. She was so tough, any other winged bird kid who was in her position would probably be screaming their head off right now, but not Max. Her control was stunning.

I glanced around at the flock.

Angel was staring at Max with a look of determination on her face, I could tell she was unsuccessfully trying to read Max's mind and see what Max was seeing to no avail.

Gazzy was in the back of the flock, talking to Iggy about this new bomb idea that used a paper clip, a piece of paper, a match, a Barbie doll (to Angel's horror), and an alarm clock. I rolled my eyes.

Iggy wasn't really listening to Gazzy, he was giving most of his attention to Nudge, who was explaining in extreme detail what the French countryside looked like.

"And there's lakes! Lots and lots of lakes, with water that's as blue as… as… well I don't know what they're as blue as, but they're really blue. Oh! And there's farm houses with cows, chickens, sheep, and one of them has PIGS!" She squealed excitedly, Iggy smiled at the image she was giving him.

I looked at Dylan and Maya, who were on each side of the flock and I's diamond formation.

Dylan was glaring ahead of him, obviously peeved that he wasn't the one carrying Max and I was. I didn't let this go to my head, because I wasn't trying to compete with Dylan, period, even if he was competing with me.

Maya's eyes were flitting from me to Dylan; there was a hidden emotion that lay behind her chocolate brown eyes that were exact replicas of Max's.

_Because that's what she is, an exact replica of Max. _I thought pityingly. Maya was always trying to escape being like Max, with her Magenta hair streak and pink clothes; she'd basically accomplished that.

Max's hand contracted around my shirt again and she inhaled quickly. I felt her body tense for a few seconds and then it relaxed she took her hand away from her head, but still held my shirt. Her eyes slowly opened and she blinked in the light, wiping the streaks of tears off of her cheeks. She looked at her hand, which was clutching my black shirt. Her eyes slowly moved up my neck to my face until they landed on my eyes and held my gaze.

"Why is your head missing some?" She mumbled dully, I smiled at her words.

"I would say 'you weight a freaking ton', but you're light as a feather." I said to her.

She smiled and leaned her forehead against my chest. "Dang, here I thought I may be bigger than you at one thing."

"Nah. I'm taller and stronger _and _I weight more. You know that." I smirked.

She growled sarcastically and I chuckled.

"My head hurts." She whined.

"Did you see anything this time?" I asked.

"Not really. It was just flashes of color and waves of-"

"Agony? Pain? Torture?" I listed off, finishing her sentence for her.

She sighed. "All of the above."

I nodded, silent again.

"Are we landing soon?" She asked, her forehead still pressed against my chest, making it difficult for me to hear her.

"Yup, the suns setting." I said matter-of-factly.

"Okay." She nodded against my chest. "Thanks, Fang. For saving me... a-again."

"No problem Max." I set my chin on the top of her head, she shivered and I pulled her closer to me.

I saw a suitable cave angled downwards and turned softly to the right, being careful not to jostle Max and give her another brain attack. I heard Nudge mutter the directions to Iggy.

"We're gonna bunk there for the night, guys." I said to the Flock, Dylan and Maya.

They were all following me.

"Okay!" Angel smiled.

"Sounds good!" Iggy and Nudge said together.

"I'll sleep outside tonight." Gazzy said glumly. "That McDonalds did _not _agree with me!"

Max chuckled. "You do that Gaz."

I smirked and prepped for the softest landing possible.

I pumped my wings and slowed myself down, holding Max bridal style instead of pinned against my chest, with one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, her hand behind my neck and her head on my shoulder, to weak and tired to even hold herself up.

My feet touched the ground softly and I tucked my wings in behind me, walking into the cave.

The cave was on top of a mountain, a small mountain. It had a small out jutting on the end of it that dangled about a hundred feet above a steep rock face that ran all the way down to the ground. A long stretch of grass ran as far as my eye could see, which is a long way if you didn't already know that.

Max's eye lids were drooping and she yawned.

"Who's taking first watch?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Anybody but you." I laughed as the flock landed; she slapped me on the back of the head and grinned.

"No dip Sherlock." She said. "And you're not taking first watch either!" she pointed her finger at me.

"Awe c'mon! I'm fine!" I laughed. She slapped me on the back of my head again, rolling her eyes.

"I'll take first watch." Iggy said.

"But you're…" Maya started then shut her mouth.

"Blind? I know that, Max." Iggy said.

Maya's face turned red and Max looked nervous for her reaction.

Nudge whispered something in Iggy's ear and his unseeing eyes went wide as dinner plates.

"Oops! Sorry Maya! It's just that you… you know." Iggy sputtered, Nudge patted his shoulder.

"It's fine. I get it… It's not the first time that's happened." Maya flipped her hair off her shoulder and smiled a little bit.

"Iggy." Dylan said. "I'll take first watch, you don't have to."

Iggy rolled his eyes. "I'm perfectly capable of handling it! I can hear better than any of you and I'm just as alert! I bet in a fight I could—"

Nudge clamped a hand over his mouth saying. "Iggy! We know! We don't doubt you! It's okay!" She patted his shoulder.

"Fmylan fmis dobvioubously boubting me." He mumbled.

"No! No! I'm not it's just… Ah… uh…" Dylan sputtered.

"Dylan. Iggy has taken tons of watches and he's perfectly capable." Max said, shifting in my arms to look over my shoulder at him. "Just let him take watch."

"Okay Max. Whatever you say!" He said.

Max turned to Iggy. "And Ig. We _all _believe in you, and we _always _will. Never forget that. Now let's go to bed flock."

Iggy nodded. "Thanks Max."

"Fang set me down please." Max looked at me, I raised an eyebrow and she nodded.

I slowly set her feet on the ground, but kept my arm under her shoulders, she didn't protest.

We all stacked our fists and everybody, except Iggy and Gazzy (who as you know was very gassy), Max took one step and turned green, collapsing to the ground and puking into some bushes, I held her hair out of the way for her.

"Yuck." She said, leaning against my knees and groaning.

"Uh huh." I said.

She spit in an attempt to get the taste out of her mouth and closed her eyes.

I scooped her up like a little kid and carried her towards the cave, she leaned her head on my shoulder, eyes still closed.

"I can walk by myself." She mumbled.

"Yeah right." I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Ha ha ha." She mumbled, sounding drunk.

I chuckled and entered the cave, going to the back and laying her against the wall. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing began to slow.

I sat next to her with my arms crossed on my chest.

"Good night, Fang." Max mumbled, scooting closer until she was pressed against my side, she shivered from the cold; I wrapped my arms around her. I heard Dylan sigh angrily.

"Good night Max." I said as she settled herself in, leaning her head on my shoulder and pressing herself into my side for warmth. I leaned my head on top of hers and closed my eyes, but I didn't fall asleep, instead I listened to the her and flock's steady breathing throughout the cave, an assurance that they were all safe and sound.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey readers!<strong>_

_**I updated again! I hope that that you are all very happy about that! If you aren't happy that I updated then you probably shouldn't be reading this fanfic... so...**_

_**Thanks to abc (who reviewed not 1 but 5 times! :)), Snowswirl66, and Team-Sooric-Delena for reviewing! You guys all rock! I hope that there are more readers out there, and if you are reading this and you haven't reviewed... THEN PLEASE REVIEW SO THAT I KNOW YOU ARE READING MY FANFIC AND THEN I WILL FEEL HAPPY AND GOOEY INSIDE! I hope that you people out there are enjoying it! If you have any constructive criticism or praise for my story... WRITE IT IN A REVIEW! Haha**_

_**For those of you who are reading this and looking for action, don't worry. Action shall come!**_

_**For those of you Mylan fans... If you review, then I won't kill off Dylan. Muahahaha.**_

_**For those of you FAX fans... I'm one of you and I hope you are enjoying the story!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

MAX

_Dread._

It washed over me like a tsunami. Everything was over. Everyone I loved was done for.

Angel was missing.

Iggy was hurt.

Gazzy was captured.

Nudges wings were broken.

Dylan turned against me.

Fang was dead.

_Fang was dead. _

My best friend was dead.

_My Fang was dead._

And I was struggling to stay alive myself.

Explosions. Screaming. Fighting through the smoke that was quickly engulfing my flock and I.

"Fang!" I screamed, wanting him to help me, save me, take me away from this terrible place.

But fang was gone. Dead.

And my flock was broken.

I was alone, and I was about to be killed just like Fang.

The shadowy figures swarmed in around me, I ran away, but no matter how fast I ran, they remained right behind me.

I grew tired and collapsed, they raised a knife.

"Fang!" I yelled again, but it was useless, the knife impaled my soft skin, right above my heart.

* * *

><p>"Max!" A voice above me was yelling. "Max! Wake up! I'm here! I'm <em>right here! <em>You're safe. I've got you! Everything's fine!"

Somebody was shaking my shoulders.

I opened my eyes, they were sopping wet and tears streaked my face.

Fangs face was right above mine, his obsidian eyes coated with worry, the gold specs in them glittering.

"Fang?" I said.

"Uh, yeah." He said.

I looked around; the moon was shining down on us and we were sitting in a meadow surrounded by grass that was at least ten feet tall on all sides. We were definitely NOT in the cave with the flock.

"Where—where are we?" I asked.

"A field like two miles away from the cave." He took in my utterly confused expression. "You were screaming your head off."

"What—Oh…" I shuttered.

_Just a dream, Max. _I thought. _It was just a dream. It wasn't real. They're all safe and unharmed. Fang isn't dead, he's right here._

"Nightmare?" Fang asked.

"Yup." I nodded, leaning my head on his shoulder as he rubbed tiring circles on my back, right in between my wings, it was awkward, but I liked it. I closed my eyes, growing tired as the seconds ticked by.

"Tell me about it." Fang said and he stopped rubbing circles.

I looked up at him.

He was cradling me in his lap, his arms around me and his wings around us both, keeping the warmth in.

I stroked one of the dark feathers.

"How long are you're wings now?" I asked, attempting to stall and still playing with the feather.

"At least fifteen feet now." He said.

"WHAT?" I yelled, mine were still fourteen feet. Boo me.

"I've gotten taller… so, my wings have gotten longer too." He said.

"Mine are still fourteen feet!" I yelled.

"Ha ha. Shorter, lighter, weaker, _and _your wings are smaller, too." He chuckled.

I punched him in the arm and glared at him. "Wanna bet?"

His laughing stopped as I climbed off of his lap and lunged at him, tackling him into the grass behind him. I sat on his stomach.

"No." He said, grabbing my waist and turning the tables on me.

"What—Ah!" I didn't have time to ask what he meant by "no".

As he grabbed my waist, he lifted me off of him and pushed _me_ into the grass. He laughed at my stunned expression, pinning my arms at my sides and leaning his face down so it was just inches from mine.

"Because I know that you'd lose, and whats the fun in a bet if I already know I'm gonna win?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"You think you're real impressive, don't you?" I asked, struggling against his arms.

"No. I just know I'm stronger." He grinned, showing no effort as he kept my wrists pinned.

"But I can fly faster." I countered.

"But I can go invisible."

"No you can't. You just go so still you blend in."

"Fine. Then I'm Fang the chameleon! But you aren't exactly in the correct position to be telling me how much better at everything you are then me." He smirked and squeezed my wrists as a reminder that he was still pinning me.

"Shut up." I said, rolling my eyes and slowly sliding my knee up to my chest with an evil grin.

"Max?" Fang asked nervously as my knee pressed gently against the middle of his chest and my chuck tailor covered foot pressed against his stomach. "What are you doing?"

"Proving my awesomeness." I said, and then I shoved my lower leg, which was pressed against his torso, upwards and simultaneously slid up and out of his grasp as he was sent flying backwards.

I jumped on top of him, pinning his wrists above his head and sitting on him again, he was so totally stuck.

"I win." I laughed.

"Not quite." He smirked, thrusting his arms upwards, with such force that even I couldn't contain, and out of my grip. "See like I said: I'm stronger than you!" He laughed out loud as he pushed me off of him, I shot into the sky so that I didn't trip and fall into the mud, my wings carried me upwards. He joined me in the sky, stretching his wings.

"My wings are longer." It was true. His wingspan was _at least _a foot longer than mine. I glared at him and tucked my wings in, dropping like a rock, then snapping them out, catching myself and landing softly on the ground. Fang landed directly in front of me, standing more than a foot taller than me.

"And I'm taller." He whispered.

I poked his chest and turned around, but he grabbed my arm and spun me back around.

"You're stalling Max." He muttered to me.

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked mock innocently.

"Tell me about your nightmare." He said, leaning his face down to look directly into my eyes, I looked at my shoes.

"No." I crossed my arms like a stubborn five year old.

"Tell me, Max."

"No."

"Max."

"How about no."

"Please."

"No with a side of no!"

"Fine. Then I guess I'll just imagine that it was about you and Dylan making out or something." He chuckled in mock humor, I could tell the thought really made him mad. "I mean seriously! Who _wouldn't_ cry if they had a dream about lip-locking with _Dylan_! I know I would-" I slapped my left hand over his mouth to stop the annoying flow of words and used my right hand to smack him on the back of the head. "Ow!" He mumbled sarcastically beneath my fingers.

"It WAS NOT about THAT! I'll tell you that for certain, Fang. It was… about…" I shook my head.

He grabbed the hand that was holding his mouth and removed it. "Max, just tell me what it was about."

I sighed. "Fine. We were all at a battle, except Angel was missing." I clenched my fist's. "Iggy was hurt. Gazzy was captured. Nudges wings… were broken." I shuttered. "Dylan turned against us. And you…" A tear rolled down my face.

"What? I was what?" He asked.

"You… oh, Fang… you were… dead." I finished and sat down on the ground, taking deep breaths and wiping my tears away.

"Max. Look at me." He said, I refused. "Max!"

I looked up at him.

"Feel that?" He held my hand to the left of his chest. "That's a heartbeat. I real, live heartbeat. I'm here, I'm ALIVE!" He said.

"I know, I know." I said. "It was j-just a nightmare."

He smoothed my hair down and hugged me, I hugged him back.

"Let's head back to the cave. Iggy will start to worry." Fang said holding out his hand to help me up, I took it.

We took to the sky, racing back to the cave, I won, of course.

"I told you I could fly faster." I stuck my tongue out at him as he landed on the ledge in front of the cave a couple minutes after me.

"Shut up, elf girl." he grinned, making fun of my height compared to his.

I punched his shoulder. "Don't tell me what to do... Fang the Chameleon." I grinned.

He smirked.

"Hey Ig, you doin alright?" I asked Iggy, who was still on watch.

"Oh yeah, I'm great, it's been a while since I've taken watch!" He smiled. "You okay?"

"Better." I said, walking into the cold cave and shivering as I sat down next to Fang, leaning against the freezing cold rock wall.

I slid closer to Fang as he out stretched his wing a bit behind me. Fang was always SO WARM! I'm jealous; he's like his own sun.

I leaned against his warm wing and sat perpendicular to him, my back leaning against his half bent knees. It was actually super comfortable.

"Goodnight Fang." I yawned sleepily.

"Goodnight Max." He said, sounding fully alert.

Calmed by the steady breathing of my flock around me, I lapsed into a dreamless (and nightmare less) sleep within seconds.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated! And guess what! I'VE REACHED 20 CHAPTERS ON MY FANFICTION! Yay! I hope that you guys liked it! I know that there's a lot of FAX in it and it may be getting a bit boring, but things are gonna start speeding up. It's gonna get intense and exciting and EPIC (if I may say so my self. haha).**_

_**Thanks to Readcutie428,**__** iLoOoVeOrAnGe (originally abc), Faxalltheway, and Snowswirl66 for reviewing! You guys make me sooooo soooo happy! As for the rest of you who are reading this and not reviewing... PLEASE REVIEW SO THAT I CAN BE HAPPY AND MAKE GREAT CHAPTERS SO THAT YOU WILL LIKE MY STORY! Ha ha. Anyways...**_

_**If you like this story.. Then tell your Maximum Ride fanatic friends and tell them to read it! Maybe they will like it too!**_

_**Okay. I'm done ranting and etc.**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

FANG

I was pinning Max to the ground and laughing at her as she struggled weakly against my strong arms. Then she grinned evilly and started pulling her foot up to her chest.

Electricity shot across my body as her shin slid along my stomach and her knee stopped at my chest.

"Max?" I asked nervously. "What are you-"

Then I was flying backwards and Max was on top of me, holding my hands above my head.

"I win." She muttered in my ear.

"Not quite." I said, and forced my hands upwards, easily breaking her grip.

"See! I told you I'm stronger!" I laughed.

She stumbled backwards and shot into the air and I followed with my bigger wings.

"My wings are bigger." I grinned.

She dropped out of the sky, then snapped her wings out and landed softly on the ground. "And I'm taller." I said landing right in front of her and standing more than a foot taller than her.

She poked my chest and turned around, but I stopped her.

"You're stalling Max." I said. "Tell me about your dream."

After much begging on my part, she finally told me. I didn't really understand why she was freaking out so much, until she said that I was dead in the nightmare.

We flew back to the cave and leaned against the cave wall, she leaned against my bent legs and put her side against my half extended wing. I grinned contentedly.

"Goodnight Fang." She murmured.

"Goodnight Max." I said, she was out like a light within seconds.

* * *

><p>Max didn't have any more nightmares and I woke her up at 4 in the morning because we needed to meet Ratchet by 1 o'clock this afternoon.<p>

"Max." I whispered, tapping her forehead, she had her head on my chest and her hand was once again clutching my shirt. "Max wake up."

She gasped and jerked awake, her eyes alert and her body tensed for battle, she climbed on top of me and pinned me to the wall, thinking I was some unknown attacker. I let her have her moment of freaking out before she realized it was me.

Comprehension dawned in her eyes and she took her right hand off my shoulder and her left hand out of my hair, releasing me, but still on top of me.

I smirked at her.

"Oh… Sorry." She twirled her hair self-consciously and glared at me. "I blame you for that."

"Oh do you?" I asked, sliding her off of me so that she was sitting next to me.

"Yes. I do. You should have said it was you." She said, getting up and wiping her hands on her jeans, I followed her as she walked out of the cave.

"Hungry?" I asked.

She snorted. "What kind of a question is that? Of course I'm hungry!"

"Then lets go get some food." Dylan said, coming up behind me, nonchalantly shouldering me away from Max so that he was right next to her.

"Uh… Yeah, sure Dylan." Max said, looking up at him.

"Fang how about you stay here and keep watch?" Dylan said to me, turning to me and smirking so that Max couldn't see.

Max looked over Dylan's shoulder and gave me a look that said 'just do it because I don't wanna have to kick both of your butts for fighting.'

I took a deep breath and raised my eyebrows at her, then said, "Sure." I turned away from them and walked over to Iggy.

"Ig. Go take a nap for half an hour. I got watch." He nodded sleepily and walked into the dark cave.

Dylan shot into the sky.

Max looked back at me, mouthing "Thank You." and looking deep into my eyes, deciphering my thoughts worriedly.

"Any time." I mouthed back, grinning slightly to make her feel better.

She smiled, turned around, extended her wings and took to the sky, flying with so much grace that it took my breath away.

I sighed. God I love her. But does she love me? Probably not.

I sighed again and sat down in the dirt, leaning against the outer wall of the cave and waiting for Max and Dylan to come back.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

_**Okay so I know this was a super short chapter and that I haven't updated in FOREVER! (well technically four days but... it feels like forever to me) I am sooo sooo sooo sooo sooo sooo sorry to you all! Just a heads up for all of you, I will not be updating from March 29th to April 7th, it's spring break for my school and I'm going on vacation. I know that you all will probably hate me, but I will be writing new chapters while I'm on vaca, so I'll be updating as soon as I have access to wifi! I promise!**_

_**Thanks to Faxalltheway, Snowswirl66, Neimad Do'Urden, and Sammie for reviewing! you guys all rock so much and I'm very very glad that you like it! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW MORE! IT WOULD MAKE ME SOOOOO SOOOOO SOOOOO HAPPY!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

MAX

So I'm flying with Dylan to get some food. I'm a little mad that he's so possessive of me, and I really just want to punch him in the face. But I have maximum self-control.

He flew above me, beating his wings in synchronization with mine. It reminded me of how Fang and I used to fly, exactly like this.

I angled downwards, seeing a forest that would probably have a few rabbits. Dylan angled with me.

I had a head ache, probably an oncoming brain attack, but I ignored it, looking around for some food source. Then Dylan grabbed my hand and turned me to face him.

"Max. What's going on between you and Fang?" He leaned very close to me.

I pulled away. "Why do you care?"

"Because I care about you, and I know what Fang's done to you, and so do you. I don't want you to get hurt again." He cupped my chin, and I knew what was coming. He leaned in and I shoved my hand against his chest with so much force he slammed into a tree a couple feet behind him.

He brushed bits of tree off of his shoulders.

"Butt out Dylan." I said. "I can take care of myself."

"I don't think you can Max." He said. "If he leaves you again, you will fall apart. I will never leave you. I'm perfect for you. I'm built for you. I'm your perfect other half. I love you Max."

I whirled around, if he wasn't built for me, I'd say that Dylan was a total romantic, but he was _created _to be my "perfect other half". "You love me because you've never experienced real love." I shook my head. "Dylan, you NEED to find somebody with your heart, not the heart that somebody else has made for you."

"But Max… I do love you."

I shook my head. "You don't, Dylan. You think you do."

"No! I love you-" I cut him off.

"Dylan." I held up my hand. "You've been alive for eight months, that's hardly enough time to experience love." I said. "It took me fourteen years to find love. And you'll find someone. But it's not me. I—I don't want to do this to you."

"I'm not giving up Max." He said gravely. "You'll realize it's me you love. I pray you will." He shook his head. "And when you get your heart broken, I'll be right there, waiting in the wings." He laughed at his play on words, then his face darkened again. "You'll soon realize that Fang was the wrong choice."

"I'M NOT CHOOSING ANYONE!"I shouted. "I DON'T CHOOSE EITHER OF YOU AT THE MOMENT!" I took a deep breath. "Just please Dylan. Be my friend," He sighed sadly, "because that's what I _need _you to be for me. I need you here with me, but not how you want. If you are my perfect other half, you'll stand by me, as one of my wing men."

"Alright Max. I'll be the best friend you've ever had." He said.

I highly doubted that, I don't think he could ever reach the friend level that my flock had reached with me. And he could definitely never reach Fang's right wing man status; I didn't voice either of these opinions.

Dylan hugged me, and I hugged him. Hopefully it would be less tense now.

We flew back to the cave with a couple rabbit peices that we'd already cooked, Fang was sitting watch, and he nodded to me when I land next to him.

"We need to talk." I said to him, and then looked from him to Dylan. "The three of us."

They nodded grimly and followed me to the ground bellow the cave. If this got loud, I didn't want the flock to hear.

"Okay. You two need to work this out. Right now." I said to them, the bickering between them was ending tonight, no ifs and's or buts.

Fang raised an eyebrow at me.

"You're both important to me." I started, knowing this was going to be hard to talk about. "Dylan, you've been there for me since you came. And Fang, you've been, everything to Me." both nodded. "And I need you both right now. That's why I need you to work this out."

They both nodded, but neither said anything.

"Boys." I muttered under my breath. Fang smirked, he'd heard me. Dylan looked confused, he hadn't heard me.

"Okay. Neither of you is doing ANYTHING at the moment so I'm just gonna give you the terms of this truce between the two of you." I said. "You two need to stop fighting over me. I don't choose either of you at the moment and if you ask me to choose, I swear to God almighty, I'll punch your lights out." Both nodded mutely. "Second, chill out around each other and DO NOT under any circumstances, EVER kill each other." I finished with that and crossed my arms.

"Agreed." Fang said, he extended a hand half way towards Dylan and raised his eyebrows at me, I nodded with a grin and he held it out to Dylan, who shook it half-heartedly and extended his wings.

I shook my wings out and Fang did the same.

We flew up to the cave and woke up the flock.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I am very very sorry, but this is the last time I'm gonna update for about a week. I'm on vacation because my school is on spring break. I'm connected to wifi at a hotel currently, but tomorrow I will be camping with NO WIFI! I know that you guys probably hate me now but I am BEGGING you to stay with me. I've been writing chapters in the car on my way to my destination and I will update them as soon as I enter a wifi hotspot.**_

___**Thanks to , EmaEpod32, Booklover72, and Snowswirl66 for reviewing! I really hope you guys stay with this story even though I wont update for like 7 days. PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!**_

___**Enjoy!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

FANG

After my agreement with Dylan, Max and I flew up to the cave. I lit a fire while she skinned the rabbits and we cooked them thoroughly, food poisoning was not on the agenda.

Max went into the cave to wake up the flock and Dylan sat as far away from me as possible.

I nodded at him, acknowledging his presence, but not wanting to talk to him.

He came up to me and towered over me, glaring down at me. I stood up too, we were the same height, but he was bulkier.

"Listen Fang." Dylan said, getting right in my face. "If you break her heart again, I will personally kill you. She belongs with me, and you know that it's true, you know that she will choose me."

"It's not up to me, Dylan. I don't decide who Max chooses and neither do you." I said calmly, sitting back down. "Max chooses. And whoever she picks, I'll support her."

"Right. So if she tells you she loves me, your just gonna say 'okay' and be happy for her?" Dylan said, sounding exasperated.

"Yes. That's what I just said." I looked up at him and held my hand up, making a pushing motion. "Dude. I need some personal space here."

He sighed angrily and walked away from me.

Max came and sat down next to me. "That was nice, Fang." She said.

"What was nice?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.

"What you said about supporting me." She nudged my side with her elbow. "And thanks for not ripping his head off."

"It took some control." I sighed.

"I know."

Maya walked out of the cave, combing her fingers through her hair, she sat down next to Dylan, who smiled at her.

Max raised an eyebrow at me and flashed her eyes to Maya and Dylan.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked.

"Oh yeah." She nodded, then leaned closer to me and whispered in my ear. "That is if you're thinking about how Maya and Dylan are awkwardly flirting-"

"Ever since Maya and I came to help the flock get you." I finished, talking only loud enough for Max to hear.

She nodded.

I smirked a little, it was like Max and I were best friends again. I liked the idea, she seemed to as well because she nudged my shoulder and smiled as I handed her a piece of charred rabbit Au-gratin.

Nudge came out, pressing a rock into Iggy's hand and letting him explain it to her.

"Reddish orange, oblongly shaped, there's a few bumps in it, but other than that, it's been weathered to the point of being smooth as a baby's butt." Iggy said, handing the rock back to Nudge.

"That's right!" Nudge giggled excitedly, gripping his arm and leaning on him. "Just wait until we get back to the states and land on the beach! You can feel ALL the shells there! It 'll be awesome! Oh oh oh! And we can go SWIMMING! It's been soooo long since I went swimming! Just wait, the water will be warm and the sand will be squishy. Not the bad squishy, the good squishy, you know, like marshmallows or… or… ICE CREAM! It's been soooo long since I had Ice cream! Do you remember ice cream Iggy? I DO! It's so delicious and wonderful and cold and creamy and rich and mfghremb-" Iggy capped the flow of words from Nudges mouth with his hand.

"Nudge!" Iggy laughed. "Breakfast is ready. Less talk, more eat." He laughed harder and released her gently.

"Sorry!" She grabbed his hand and guided him to the ground, away from the burning fire.

"Here guys." Max said, handing them each a stick with a piece of rabbit charred to perfection.

"To another _fabulous _meal!" Iggy said flamboyantly and thrusting his stick into the air and Gazzy and Angel laughed, Nudge leaned into him for support because she was laughing so hard, rabbit was obviously NOT the flocks favorite meal.

"Okay guys, now we meet… er… Fangs gang at the airport at the tip of Portugal." Max said. "Flock, fly in the formation we used to fly in when… uh… you know… we were a whole flock." She didn't look at me and I could see her biting her lip, I sighed internally and nodded in agreement with her. I knew she didn't mean it as a dig at me; it was just her only way of explaining it. She continued after an awkward pause. "Dylan and Maya, is it okay if you two fly at the back behind Angel and Gazzy?" Max asked a little tentatively.

Maya nodded her head and Dylan looked at Maya, he nodded after she did. Maya noticed this and blushed while grinned awkwardly.

"Okay, then lets fly." Max called standing up as everybody finished his or her last piece of rabbit.

We flew in our flock formation, like Max had instructed, with her at the point, I was on her right, and Iggy on her left.

Nudge was behind Iggy, Gazzy was behind me, and Angel was behind Max, in between Iggy and I, this way she was protected.

Dylan and Maya were flying side by side behind Nudge and Gazzy. Dylan was telling Maya something and she was laughing and twirling her hair flirtatiously. Max chuckled to herself and muttered. "How is she my _clone_?" under her breath.

"I know right?" I called just loud enough so she could hear me.

She gasped quickly, realizing she'd been to loud, and turned her head to stare at me.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

She said, "That's for me to know and you to _never_ find out." and smirked at my annoyed expression as she turned around again.

"We'll be landing soon guys." Max called to the flock, Maya and Dylan, receiving a chorus of "okay" in response. "Fang. I hope you have a plan to get us some cash, because there is no was in the highest tip of heaven that we can fly across the entire Atlantic Ocean with just our wings." she muttered to me, only Iggy and I could hear her.

I nodded.

"Does that mean you have a plan?" She asked.

I shrugged.

"What does that mean?" She whisper yelled.

"I'm thinking an air show like I put on in Paris last month when my gang was raising money. " I said, knowing she'd remember.

Her annoyance disappeared and her face turned almost sad. "Oh." She muttered and turned around quickly, hiding her expression from me.

_What did I say? _I thought wildly. _Girls. They're so complex._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated TWO DAYS earlier than I thought I would, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Sorry again for the long wait. I finally got hooked up to wifi and now I updated!**_

_**Thanks to snowswirl66, Booklover72, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, and for reviewing. Not as many reviewers but that's alright! PLEASE REVIEW!**  
><em>

**_Next chapter will be up soon! I promise!_**

**_Thanks!_**

_**maximumwriter19**  
><em>


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

MAX

My heart hurt when Fang said he'd be doing a show like the one he and his gang had put on in Paris.

The reason: He and Maya had been the lead act.

_Stop it Max. Stop. Just stop. Get over him; let him be with who he wants to be. _I thought angrily. Fang and I had finally gotten over the whole him leaving thing, now he was the same boy that I knew and… loved. He was my best friend again.

I looked away from Fang and his now utterly confused expression and focused entirely on flying.

We landed some twenty minutes later on top of an airport main building.

Fang reached across me to point to something in the parking lot, I resisted the urge to shiver. "That's Ratchets car. Lets head over."

"Kay." I said and flew off the roof, landing lightly on top of the mustang only seconds later.

"Hey… uh sorry but which one are you?" Ratchet asked when he saw me.

"Max." I said.

"Oh. I figured." He laughed. "No pink."

I nodded. Fang landed next to me. "Ratchet. How much cash do you have on you?"

"On me?" Ratchet ruffled through his pockets. "About 2,000 dollars."

My eyes bugged out.

"2,000 DOLLARS?" I yelled, but Fang slapped a hand over my mouth before I could start ranting.

"Max, lots a crazy thieves looking for a load a cash, not that they'd be able to win in a fight against any of us, but still, low profile." He whispered in my ear.

I nodded and he released me. "Sorry. It's just-" I started.

Fang cut me off and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. "I know. Non of us have ever been this close to more than two hundred dollars. "I nodded silently and looked up at him, he held my gaze for what seemed like forever, saying unsaid things, until the flock landed and he tore his gaze away from me. "That's only enough for about four tickets, let's do an air show." Fang said. The flock cheered, Dylan sort of shrugged, Maya grimaced at Dylan and he patted her shoulder.

_What's going on with them? _I thought.

Fang smirked at me and started listing jobs. "Okay. Ratchet, you collect the money and announce the show." Ratchet nodded. "Kate, lift heavy things like cars and fat people from the ground." Kate grinned and nodded. "Star, give somebody this stopwatch" Fang held out a stopwatch, "and have them time your speed." Star nodded. "Holden… cut off a finger and have people watch it grow back." Holden looked like a kid on Christmas, nodding enthusiastically. "That's the first act. After that, the flock should do one of the air show acts that we did for the CSM." They all nodded eagerly, Dylan and Maya were _EXTREMELY _confused. "Maya, Dylan" Fang said Dylan's name with out gritting his teeth! I'll thank him for that later "think of a routine for the two of you to do after the flock goes out, you guys get the second to last act." Maya blushed happily, but didn't smile, Dylan looked a little annoyed that Fang had put him with Maya and not me, but he also looked… pleased? to be working with Maya. Boys are soooo confusing. "To finish the act off, Max" Fang looked at me "I think we should do something together. You know, sort of like that one CSM show when we did that air dance thing." Fang chuckled lightly, gazing into my eyes and holding my gaze. My breath caught in my chest. "And then we can end in, like, a pose with the flock in the air, and the ground you guys can bow and all that jazz…" Fang took his gaze off me and looked at Iggy and Gazzy. "Ig, Gaz, I'm thinking fireworks. You in?" Fang raised his eyebrows.

"Shoosh yeah we're in!" Gazzy and Iggy slapped a high five and then turned to each other and started conversing eagerly about the display.

Fang clapped his hands. "Okay, lets start setting up… here I guess."

I looked at my feet.

"Max?" Fang asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you not want to do the last act with me?" He asked.

My head snapped up. "That's not even close to what I was thinking!" I sighed. "Of course I want to do the act with you Fang." Something lit in his black eyes.

"Really?" He grinned.

"Really." I said, punching his shoulder.

My head started to pound. I clutched at it and sat down on the hood of the car.

"Max? Are you okay?" He swore under his breath so that Angel wouldn't hear. "Are you having another…" he lowered his voice. "Brain attack?"

I slowly shook my head. "Just a head ach." I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at him, his face was inches from mine, my breathing caught again. His eyes bored into mine, deciphering my thoughts.

"Tell me if it gets worse." He said, sitting down next to me.

"Will do." I sighed.

"So, if you want to do the act with me… Then we should probably talk about what we're gonna… well… do."

I nodded. "Well, I have an idea. And it's… crazy." I explained it to him.

"That is crazy." He grinned. "So crazy, it just might work."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated! I hope that makes you all happy!**_

_**Thank you to Booklover72, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, Percabethgirl2645, MaxRideLuver02, storycat12, and Snowswirl66 for reviewing! KEEP REVIEWING!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

FANG

Max explained her amazing plan to me and I was impressed… very impressed.

Don't tell her I said that.

Me, Max, the flock, Dylan, and Maya all flew up to the roof of the airport, right above the parking lot.

"Step right up, step right up!" Ratchet yelled to people who were sitting in the airport waiting for planes. "To see the amazing performers of the…" he thought for a second "runway circus!" He yelled finally, I silently applauded him. At least a hundred people (who all looked bored out of their minds from sitting in a chair for hours, waiting for a plane) followed him out into the parking lot. " Welcome, welcome! First up we have Kate… the great. Who can lift more than triple her weight! Just look how she picks up this car with ease." Kate lifted up two ton Chevy Silverado truck above her head, walked through the crowd a couple times, showed them the car, threw it _ten feet up in the air_, walked back, and set it back down in it's parking space.

"That's my car!" Somebody yelled and tons of people cheered and clapped, Holden walked around with a bucket from Ratchets car, the entire front row dropped money in.

"Well done Kate!" Ratchet clapped. "Next we have Star—the girl who goes… uh… far." Star rolled her eyes. "Star here is gonna pick a lucky audience member to time her running from the end of the runway and back... twice." The audience gasped.

Star stepped forward and held up the stopwatch, shaking it a little. "Who wants it?" she sang.

People jumped up and down shouting "ME! ME!", "I DO! I DO!" or "PICK ME! PICK ME!" Star chose a young guy, who was probably _dreamy _to her, and gave him the stopwatch. He flashed her a smiled and she blushed.

"On your mark. Get set. GO!" Ratchet yelled.

Star disappeared in a blur of speed, she appeared at the end of the runway, waved, disappeared again, reappeared back in the parking lot, disappeared again, and reappeared at the end of the runway, finally she skidded to a stop in front of the guy and he gave her the stopwatch with a look of awe etched on his face.

She smiled at him. "Are you gonna read my time out for these nice people?" she stuck out her bottom lip playfully and batted her eyelashes. "Or do I have to?"

The dude chuckled nervously and read the stopwatch. "Uh… um... ah... ha ha... it-it says 4.4 seconds."

The crowd gasped, Star beamed and ran to the opposite side of the crowd, giving the watch to another person to read, they nodded that the time was correct and everybody clapped and jeered. Ratchet walked the bucket through the crowd, every single person dropped at least four bills into the bucket.

"Next is Holden the boy who is-" Ratchet started, only to me cut off by Holden leaping in front of him.

"_STARFISHHHHH!_"The kid yelled, beaming at the crowd.

The crowd chuckled and Ratchet nudged Holden out of his way. "Well there you have it folks! Holden the… starfish! Now for those of you faint at heart, this act may cause… er… nausea or be a bit... disturbing." Nobody moved and Holden beamed wider, if that was even possible. "Enjoy our act one finale!" Ratchet motioned to Holden and backed out of the circle and stood next to Kate, who smiled at him he squeezed her shoulders and whispered something in her ear, making her beam and blush.

"Okay folks," Holden said, working the crowd with his boyish excitement. "I'm gonna need a pocket knife, does anyone have one?" A man in the back row waved one in the air. "Would you be so kind as to toss it up here my good man?" The man threw it to Holden, who caught it. "Alright, now stand back everybody in the front row, this could get messy." Everybody backed away.

Holden sat down, lay his hand down with his fingers spread, and brought the pocket knife down on his middle finger. It came off in one slice and blood gushed from the opening.

Women screamed, babies cried, people yelled their heads off.

" Somebody call 911 before this boy bleeds to death."

"Ah! So much blood!"

"I'm gonna baaaaarrrrffffff!"

"Whoa! That's AAAAWWWWEEESSSOOOMMMEEE!"

"EVERYBODY QUIET!" Holden yelled, the crowd went dead silent. "Put your phones away and watch. I promise I won't need an ambulance."

The bleeding stopped just seconds after Holden cut his finger off. The crowd gasped as a new finger began to grow out of the bloody nub. Holden's finger was back to normal in less than a minute.

"Eh? Eh? Pretty cool huh? See? I don't need an ambulance!" Holden walked through the crowd, holding up his hand to show people his newly grown finger. Ratchet walked around with the bucket, more people dropped money in, some dropped it in again.

I looked at Max and she smiled at me.

"Well done Holden!" Ratchet clapped, stepping back into the circle. "Now folks, we have the main event." He let this sink in. "Hold onto your socks people, because this will blow you away."

The Flock (Max and I included, because we're... you know... part of the flock) positioned themselves at the side of the building, and waited for Ratchets cue to start.

He gave us a thumbs up.

I took Max's hand, Max took Iggy's, Iggy took Nudges, Nudge took Gazzy's, Gazzy took Angels, and Angel took mine. We all jumped off the side of the building, forming somewhat of a star, and flapped our wings in synchronization.

The crowd "Oh"ed and "Ah"ed.

We all broke apart; Iggy and Nudge twirled around each other, then grasped hands, coming to a stand-still. Both tucked in their wings and they plummeted thirty feet, snapped out their wings once more, and rocketed back up, still holding hands.

The crowd gasped.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Ratchet yelled.

Gazzy flipped through the air, hurtling across the sky. Then he stopped flew upwards and then dove towards the ground and flying in a straight line above the now hundreds of people watching us. He held his hands down and high-fived our entranced crowd, confirming the fact that we were real and not some act or hologram or who knows what else.

Angel twirled around like an…. air born ballerina, which is what she was basically. She smiled at me and I grinned.

Max and I ended the performance; we slowed the beating of our wings and descended to the ground, twirling around one another as we dropped, the crowd was dead quiet. We were only inches away from each other; I grabbed Max's hand and spun her around. We were still twirling around each other when our feet lightly touched the ground in the circle next to Ratchet.

The crowd was silent as the grave for a second, in complete awe by our performance... I hope. I raised Max and I's interlocked fingers into the air, she looked at me and grinned, I nudged her reassuringly with my side.

The Flock landed next to us and we all bowed nice and low.

Then the crowd exploded, clapping as loud as they possibly could and cheering, the whole flock, excluding me (I'm mr. rock remember? No emotions!... except around Max... I need to work on that...), was beaming hugely and waving. The people were literally throwing cash at us, it was the craziest thing in my entire life. The flock seemed to feel the same. We've never been this close to so much cold hard cash, let alone had this much cash be _throw at us_. It was great, but for some reason, unnerving.

Max gasped and I squeezed her hand. "I know" I mouthed to her, nodding.

Max nodded back at me.

"Now folks, we have Maya and Dylan, who will be doing our second to last act, which is also in the air, . Give it up for Maya and Dylan." Ratchet said, motioning skyward.

Maya and Dylan glided out into the sky; they looked great up there.

They twirled and dropped, dipped and dove, spun and froze. They did just about every thing in there little routine and it was great.

About halfway through Maya and Dylan's act, I grabbed Max's hand and extended wings, she did the same and we flew up to the building roof unnoticed.

Maya and Dylan were done with there act and had landed on the ground. The crowd applauded loudly.

"Now" Ratchet made his voice echo through the parking lot. "We have our finale! You're gonna like this one people. Hang on for dear life people, because this show... is gonna be quite. the. ride. Give it up for Max and Fang!"

Max grinned at Ratchets use of her last name to describe our act. (It _was _pretty clever)

The crowd went silent, you could almost feel the anticipation rolling off of them.

"Ready?" I asked Max, turning to her.

"Ready." She said with a grin and we stepped off the roof and began the finale of the show.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated again! I hope you all liked it!**_

_**Thanks to MaxRideLuver02, storycat12, Snowswirl66, Percabethgirl2645, and Booklover72 for reviewing! You guys are just awesomely fabulous! **_

_**Now this is a note to those of you who read this and don't review:**_

_**I really want to know if you like this story because it makes me feel aaaaalllllll happy inside when people review and say they like it and give me their input. So pretty pretty pretty double triple QUADRUPLE PLEASE with SUGAR ON TOP review! :) **_

_**In summary... REVIEW!**_

_**Sorry for that rant everyone!**_

_**And before I forget...  
><strong>_

_**HAPPY EARLY EASTER! I WILL NOT BE UPDATING TOMORROW BECAUSE OF... you know... EASTER! Sorry! I will update on Monday, however. I don't have any set days for updating, you all probably know that... But I will update as frequently as I can!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

MAX

Fang and I stepped off the roof with our wings tucked. We fell along the side of the airport building, only inches away from the glass windows.

The crowd screamed and cheered.

"On three!" I yelled to Fang. "One…"

We were twenty feet above the ground.

"Two…." Fang called.

Ten feet…

"Three!" I sang.

Five feet above the ground we snapped out our wings and soared into the sky. The crowd went _wild,_ if I may say so myself, and they clapped so loud that Fang and I could hear them from our elevation of at least 100 feet in the air.

I grabbed Fangs hands in both of my hands and beat my wings at a faster rate than his, causing us to go into a vertical spiral.

"This is so weird!" I laughed as we rolled across the sky. We'd never done anything like this in an air show.

"I know, but just wait until we do this next one. Are you sure about it?" Fang asked, sounding nervous.

"Of course I am. It _was _my idea." I called and released his hands, sending both of us hurtling in opposite directions.

We froze our wings, causing us to stop moving, then beat our wings until we were just a foot apart again, we circled each other once more.

"Whenever you're ready." Fang said.

"I'm ready!" I yelled, putting my legs together, pointing my toes, putting my arms (which were bent at my elbow) out, tucking my wings in, and dropping like a rock.

People directly beneath me screamed bloody murder and yelled. "Get out of the way! She's going to fall right on top of us!" They made a big space around the area beneath me. I shut my eyes as the ground rushed towards me.

Fifty feet….

_This is the craziest idea I've ever had. _

Forty feet…

_He'll catch me. _I thought. _Fang will catch me._

Thirty feet…

_Any time now Fang._

Twenty feet…

_Oh crap. I'm so going to freaking splat all over the ground!_

Ten feet…

_Good bye cruel world. I'm sorry I never got to save you. Good bye scientists. I'm sorry I never got to kill each and every one of you slowly and painfully-_

Then two arms looped under mine and became steel vices, I felt myself rising up and away, the crowd exhaled in relief and Fang chuckled in my ear.

"Got ya." He breathed.

"Thank god." I laughed. "For a second there I thought you wouldn't catch me in time and I was gonna splat all over the ground."

"I'd never let you fall." He murmured.

"Sure, sure." I said. "Now that the crazy parts over, lets finish this off. Drop me on three."

We were one hundred feet above the buildings roof.

"One…" I counted.

150 feet above the roof.

"Two…" Fang called over the roaring wind.

175 feet…

"Three!" I sang once more.

Fang dropped me at 200 feet above the roof top, which made us about 300 feet above the screaming crowd.

I tucked my arms around my legs and started flipping downwards, Fang flew in circles around me as I flipped, wings tucked, and fell with the force of gravity.

The spinning was making me want to puke.

Not to self, no more flipping.

I snapped out my wings and angled down to the ground, Fang doing the same thing right next to me, we were perfectly in sync.

We landed softly in the middle of the flock, who were still smiling like crazy people, and the crowd erupted into applause.

"That was Max and Fang everybody! Thanks for coming out to watch us!" Ratchet yelled with a smile, then his face turned sad and solemn. "But you see. We need some plane tickets to get back home, and we haven't any money."

"Awe!" The crowd cooed.

"So if you could find it in your heart to get us back to the states and back into the arms of our… families… Then we would be eternally grateful."

The flock nodded sadly and extended our wings, flying about an inch off the ground.

The crowd exploded again. They threw whole wallets at us, and hundred dollar bills. I hardly believed that was necessary but hey! We'll take it!

"Thank you! Thank you all for your support!" Ratchet yelled.

The crowd dispersed and finally we were alone again.

We all sat down on Ratchets car while he counted the money.

"You did amazing." Fang said to me, nudging my shoulder with his elbow.

"You're making me blush!" I laughed sarcastically, putting a hand to my forehead for dramatic effect, then assuming my original position. "And you weren't so bad yourself." I shouldered him with a small grin.

"Why thank you ever so much." Fang mock-gushed, bending his back in somewhat of a sitting bow and twirling his hand flamboyantly.

I rolled my eyes and turned to my flock. "Awesome job guys!" I slapped each of them a high five. "Dylan… Maya you guys were amazing. That was a really great performance." I smiled at them.

Maya was sitting right next to Dylan, he tentatively put his arm around her and squeezed her in a one armed hug, she blushed. Fang elbowed me and raised his eyebrows, I smiled and nodded in agreement.

Dylan and Maya were getting weird.

"Thanks... Max." Maya murmured, it was the first time she'd said my name without any malice what. so. ever.

I smiled at her.

"Thanks Max." Dylan beamed at me, releasing Maya.

Angel came up and sat in my lap. "Can we talk?" she asked quietly.

"Sure sweetie." I said.

"Alone?" She sounded like she was begging now.

Fang raised his eyebrows at me. "Uh. Yeah, sure Ange. Let's go up there." I said and pointed to the roof.

We extended our wings and flew to the roof. Angel and I sat on the edge, letting our feet dangle over the side.

"What is it sweetie?" I asked her looking down at her.

"I—I'm sorry." She started crying, I pulled her onto my lap.

"What?" I cried.

"I'm s-sorry for splitting you and Fang up. I was happy for you guys when you were together in Hawaii after we saved your mom, then something inside me snapped and… and…" She stammered, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"And what?" I asked.

"And I wanted to split you up. I wanted Fang and you to be like you used to be. I wanted you to be more of a leader." She wailed. "That's why I brought Fang to Doctor Gunther Hagen, so that Fang would have a drive to become a leader himself. So that Fang would leave and let you be with Dylan."

I didn't have anything to say. I was speechless as I remembered that night when I shot Fang with that adrenalin needle and saved his life, no thanks to the 'good' doctor GH, who'd nearly killed him. But I'd saved Fang... and told him that I loved him, for the first time ever.

Then he left.

And I broke.

But you already knew that.

"After Fang left, I realized that you were better when you were with Fang. You were stronger, healthier, happier, you were Max when you were with Fang." She whispered, my breathing caught a little, knowing it was true. "You refused and still refuse to love Dylan. We, meaning the doctor and I, thought it would be easy for Dylan to win your heart, because he was your perfect other half, but then I realized something." Angel looked up at me. "Dylan is great. He is strong, kind, loving, and everything that a girl could want." I raised my eyebrows. "But that's not what you want Max." Angel shook her head. "You want Fang. Because he's been with you your whole life, he knows everything about you by just looking into your eyes. He's fought on you side forever… He can read your mind just as well as I used to be able to, and that's not even his power. Fang and you have a connection that no distance could ever break."

"Soooo what are you saying?" I asked tentatively.

"I'm saying that even though Dylan was made for you, he's not your perfect other half. I—I think Fang is. In a roundabout way."

I raised my eyebrows. "Care to explain?"

Angel nodded. "The white coats made all of us. They chose us; our gender, our genetics, everything. They were constantly testing us, our abilities, our strength, even our emotions."

I nodded in agreement, but remained silent, listening intently.

She took in a fluttery breath before continuing. "They picked you, Iggy, and Fang first and at the same time, that way you were nearly the exact same age. The wacko's had to be thinking that you'd fall in love with one of them, but they weren't sure who at the time. It was your first emotional test... _love._" Angel took a deep breath once more. "I believe that they originally created Iggy and Fang… for you." My eyes widened. "That's why they chose the three of you. One girl, that's you, and two boys, that's Fang and Iggy. You had to choose one of them, in the white coats mind, you were gonna be stuck at the school for your whole life, eventually you had to fall for one of them. Then they got Nudge, and you definitely weren't gonna fall in love with her." We both chuckled. "And Gazzy was 6 years younger than you, so if you fell for him… that would be nasty, they figured you were smarter than that. I was just an extra gift they never expected to get. Gazzy and I's mother just sold both of us to the white coats." Angel sobbed again, I rocked her back and forth and rubbed her back.

"You really think that sweetie?" I asked.

"That Fang is your other half?" Angel responded quietly.

I nodded.

"I do." She nodded. "It makes perfect sense. Why else would the white coats take _two boys_ and only _one girl_? Like I said: they were constantly testing us, your emotions had to be one of the tests. I'd bet, they sent Gunther Hagen to us just so he'd make Dylan and see if you'd fall for your 'perfect other half' over your _real _perfect other half, which they now found out was-"

"Fang." I finished for her, feeling a little dazed.

"Uh huh. When he left, that's why you were so broken up. It felt like a part of you was-"

I cut her off again "Gone. Because-"

Angel finished my sentence. "Fang was gone. Half of you was gone, your perfect other half was gone. Your—your fang was gone." Her face softened and more tears came down. "And it was all my fault. I'm s—so sorry! I—I didn't know! I thought that Dylan would make you happier than Fang _ever _would. But then I realized that that was impossible. I realized that when we met up with Fang in Paris, you guys fought a lot. Dylan and you never fought, because all he did was obey. But Fang wasn't afraid to say 'no' to you and put you in your place. That's why he was perfect for you. Just like you're not afraid to do the same thing back to him. The two of you compliment each other in ways no one else can and ever will. That's why he was like you brother, your best friend, your…" she looked at me, knowing that I knew the answer.

"P-perfect other half." I stammered. Angel nodded and tears fell down her cheeks again. I wiped them away, letting what she'd just said sink in. "It's alright Angel, look where we are." I motioned to the ground, where Fang and the rest of my flock was looking up at us nervously. Angel sniffled. "If what you say is true, then it'll be okay. Somebody once told me that, who—who was it that said that?" I asked her, smiling slightly.

"M-me?" She sniffled again. I nodded. She sighed and nodded too. "I—I s-said th-at it would be okay. I—I said that."

"That's right. It's gonna be okay honey." I squeezed her.

She looked up at me. "Y-you're n-not m-mad at m-me-e?"

I shook my head. "Angel, I'm not mad. I'm just glad that we've got you back with us."

"Really?"

"Really." I stood up and set her on the ground, wiping the tears off of Angels cheeks.

"Thanks Max. You're a great leader." She hugged my waist and I bent down to hug her.

"Thanks sweetie." I whispered.

I was totally going crazy.

Like seriously. I need to go to a mental hospital... because I think I'm going insane.

Just kidding about the mental hospital part. Hate hospitals! Remember?

Angel thought that _Fang _was my perfect other half? Whaaaaaaaat?

And she'd caused him to leave. But I wasn't angry with her, I was almost glad that things had been cleared up about all of that. Here I thought that Fang had actually left me so I could be a _better leader_. A load of crap is what that is.

_Fang is my perfect other half? _I thought as I extended my wings. _If he's my other half… then what does that make Dylan?_

I looked down at Angel. " if Fang is my other half.. then what does that make Dylan?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "A test on your emotions from the school, or Itex, or whoever is still trying to find us and test us." she paused for a moment, then returned to talking about Dylan. "He doesn't know it though. I think he _really believes _that he's perfect for you." Her face turned sympathetic. "Poor Dylan."

"Poor Dylan." I whispered in agreement. Everything he'd been told was a _lie._ I know what that's like.

And it sucks.

A lot.

Angel nodded.

"Let's not tell Fang just yet." I said to her. "Or Dylan for that matter. I'm guessing it would cause a fight. And we do NOT need that at the moment."

She nodded. "It'll be our little secret."

"Until the time comes." I said.

Angel nodded again and smiled at me.

We flew back down and I landed next to Fang.

He looked into my eyes and held my gazed, probing my brain for answers on what had just happened, I gazed back into his deep, obsidian eyes that still took my breath away with their... never mind... in fact, forget I said anything about his eyes, except that they were holding my gaze, because that part's true.

Fang raised his eyebrows and mouthed "What happened?"

I shook my head slowly and mouthed. "Not now".

He rolled his eyes and was about to say something else but Ratchet ran up to him.

"Dude! We've got 6,000 DOLLARS!" He whisper yelled.

"Sweet!" Iggy called from his sprawled out position next to Nudge on the roof of the mustang, it looked like they were having a thumb war. Iggy was winning by a landslide. "First class baby!"

"Don't bet on it Ig." I called. "Low profile remember?" I looked at Fang, who was smirking because I used his words, and winked at him.

"Fine." Iggy huffed.

"Wait, do we get food?" Nudge and the Gasman asked together.

"Ohhhhhh yeah." I sang. "I'm thinking Big Macs for everyone and plane tickets all around."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello readers!<strong>_

_**I hope you all had a lovely Easter and ate a lot of food! Ha ha.**_

_**I really really liked this chapter (if I may say so myself). I thought it had an interesting twist to it, if you hated it... then... I'm sorry! I came up with the whole perfect other half thing. Maybe JP will put that into the last book... I mean it makes sense... at least I think it does... Anyways! Send me a review with your thoughts, likes, and dislikes!**_

_**This was my longest chapter yet at 3,055 WORDS! I hope that's a good thing!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to storycat12, Percabethgirl2645, Snowswirl66, Readingcutie428, Booklover72, MaxRideLuver02, and Narwhalesandsnikahs for reviewing! You guys tooootally rock! Please keep reviewing! And if you haven't reviewed yet... PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEEASE REVIEW!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

FANG

Max and Angel flew up to the rooftop and sat down on the edge. I watched them carefully. I was half expecting Angel to turn on Max and… never mind.

Ratchet was still counting the pile of money in front of him. Kate, Star, Holden, Gazzy, and Iggy were standing in a clump around him, concealing the loot.

Max and Angel flew back down, Max looked… flustered and Angel looked like she'd been crying.

I looked at Max and held her gaze.

"What happened?" I mouthed when she landed next to me.

She shook her head and mouthed "Not now."

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to say more but Ratchet stepped in front of me, shaking a large pile of green right in front of my face.

"Dude! We've got 6,000 DOLLARS!" He whisper yelled.

"Sweet!" Iggy called from his sprawled out spot next to Nudge on the Mustang. They were playing thumb war. And Nudge was getting beaten by a blind guy. "First class baby!"

"Don't bet on it Ig." Max called. "Low profile remember?" She looked at me and winked, I smirked because she used my words.

"Fine." Iggy huffed.

"Wait, do we get food?" Nudge and the Gasman asked together.

"Ohhhhhh yeah." Max sang. "I'm thinking Big Macs for everyone and plane tickets all around."

Everyone cheered and ran into the airport.

Max and I headed up to the front desk.

"What do we do?" Max whispered in my ear.

"Follow my lead."

She nodded.

We stopped at the desk and smiled at the lady who was sitting there.

"Hello!" She beamed. "How may I help you today."

"Well," I put my arm around Max's waist, she pressed herself into my side "we need to get a flight back to the United States."

"Okay. And… this is your…?"

"Wife." Max finished for the woman, she put her hand on my chest and rested her head on my shoulder, smiled contentedly. "As of yesterday."

I nodded in agreement.

"Oh." The lady blinked. "Congratulations! Are the… children behind you, with you?"

I coughed." Yes… this is my er… Brother and his girlfriend." I motioned to Ratchet and Kate. "And this is my wife's best friend and maid of honor." I motioned to Star. "They all came for our wedding in Paris." Everybody nodded.

Max pointed to Maya and Dylan." This is my twin sister and that is her husband" Next Angel and Gazzy, who beamed innocently. "My little brother and sister." Lastly was Iggy and Nudge. "And this is my older brother and his… girlfriend." Iggy waved to the woman and put his arm around a blushing Nudge.

"Oh how nice." The woman smiled. "And… your parents?"

"They already boarded a plane home." Max said smoothly.

"Alright then! Where will you be landing in?" The woman asked, typing something into her computer.

"Uh…" Max stammered.

"New York LaGuardia Airport." I said. "We'll take the quickest flight you've got."

"Okay, there's one departing in half an hour, that should give you just enough time to go through security. Do you have any bags?"

"No, we shipped it all back over. Cheaper than checking bags you know." I lied and she nodded.

"That'll be 5,645 dollars and 76 cents." The woman said.

Ratchet handed me the exact amount. "That should be all." I smiled.

"Yes, yes. Here are all your tickets." She handed them to Max, who smiled.

"Thank you very much." Max beamed, then we walked to the security scan.

We were stopped by the security, because they saw our wings in the X-ray scan. Then we had to go through a pat-down because they wanted to insure our wings weren't some new bomb.

"Our bones are… uh… a bit different." Max said to the woman patting her down.

"I can see that." The woman smiled and straightened herself" Alright dear. You're all free to go, we apologize for the inconvenience."

I took Max's hand. "Come on _darling_" I smirked "we have a plane to catch."

"Yes _peanut butter_, we do." Max giggled dramatically and leaned her head on my shoulder. I leaned my head on hers (with difficulty because she was so much shorter than me now).

"You're very tiny, Elf girl." I said to her.

She elbowed me. "Shut up Chameleon," she laughed. "like you said we have a plane to catch. Less talk, more walk."

I rolled my eyes at her and looked at the flock, which were walking in a group in front of us.

Nudge and Iggy were doing amazing at putting on the whole girlfriend-boyfriend act. They were holding hands and talking quietly to each other, Nudge giggle and Iggy chuckled quietly in all the right places. Iggy tucked a strand of hair behind Nudges ear and cupped her chin softly; they looked at each other for a long time.

Ratchet had his arm around Kate, who was more than half a foot shorter than him. She held his hand that was resting on her shoulder and they acted deep in conversation.

Angel and Gazzy walked on either side of us, making faces at each other and playing up the whole little-siblings thing, it was amusing to watch.

Maya and Dylan, however, preformed the best out of everybody.

Dylan took Maya's hand and spun her around, she giggled happily. Then Maya laughed and pointed to a spot on Dylan's face where he had left over mustard from the Big Mac he'd just eaten. She licked her thumb and ran it along his lower jaw, removing the stain. She brought her hand across his cheek and up to his hair, brushing his bangs off of his forehead. He closed his eyes and caught her hand, holding it to his face. She smiled and wrapped her arm around him. She tripped because she was staring at him and stumbled forward, Dylan caught her around the middle and pulled her gently into him. She looked up at him and stroked his cheek, smiling.

Max nudged me, I looked at her, she shifted her eyes to Dylan and Maya then back to me, and wiggled her eyebrows with a smirk.

I nodded and chuckled quietly; she covered her hand with her mouth to stop from laughing. I took her hand and twirled her into my arms where I held her close as we walked. She smiled up at me, and then looked at Angel meaningfully.

Angel nodded and smiled slightly.

"What?" I asked, very confused. "Did she just read your mind?"

Angel shook her head sadly. "I still can't do that."

Max looked back at me. "Later." She mouthed again.

"You know," I lowered my voice. "Elf Girl, " I raised my voice again. "we _are _married, you can tell me everything."

"I already do tell you everything!" Max tapped my nose gently. "And your not exactly one to talk Mr. Fang-the-silent-CHAMELION-who-doesn't-say-anything-that's-on-his-mind, you tell me one thing, and I'll tell you one thing."

I sighed. "Fine, we'll talk on the plane." I smirked at her expression of horror.

She started to say. "What? But—but!" but I pinched her lips.

"No, no, no! No if's and's or BUT's!" I muttered into her ear. "On the plane."

"Fine." She huffed crossing her arms like an angry toddler, then she groaned.

"What? Another brain attack?" I pulled her closer, ready to carry her if she passed out.

"No! It's just that… we have to get on a _plane_!" She moaned. "We have to sit in a heavy, steel, death trap for 13 hours!"

"My sentiments exactly." I squeezed her.

We reached our terminal and started walking through the metal chamber. I gabbed Max's hand and she clutched mine hard.

"Let's go have some fun." I said to her, she grimaced at me and stuck her tongue out, I muttered. "Man, you're an angry elf."

She punched me.

"Ow." I said sarcastically.

"Promise me we won't die." Max murmured, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I promise we won't die." I rolled my eyes but squeezed her hand reassuringly.

_God, my 'wife' is quite the frightened, angry, little Elf Girl. _I thought with a smile as Max sat down next to me and clutched my arm, putting her head on my shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut once more. _And that's exactly why I love her._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**Soooo I updated again! I hope that you liked this chapter... It wasn't my favorite. I know it was awkward... but... yeah... It wasn't horrible though...  
><strong>_

_**Please don't give up on this story if you hated this chapter!**_

_**Thanks to Readingcutie428, Team-Sooric-Delena, Booklover72, Lilac, Black Venom, Ashly Lynn, Narwhalesandsnikahs, Fyrephoenix16, storycat12, Percabethgirl2645, Snowswirl66, and SammieJoe for reviewing! Chapter 26: Chapter 25 was the MOST REVIEWED CHAPTER OF THIS ENTIRE STORY! I got twelve reviews over the past two days for this chapter! Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU! **_

_**ALL of you readers keep reviewing and I will keep writing as much as I can! **_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

MAX

The plane took off. I clutched Fangs arm so hard he couldn't feel his fingers.

"God." He whispered to me with a smile as we leveled out and started flying towards our destination. "Who would a thought that the great Maximum Ride is afraid of planes?"

I punched him. "Shut up and disappear with you chameleon self so that I don't have to look at you."

He knew I was joking but he smiled and went completely still, he was gone within seconds. "Is this better?" He asked, still remaining invisible.

"WHERE'S FANG?" The flock and Fangs gang shouted, looking all over the plane, people grumbled at the noise and I'm pretty sure somebody swore at us in French.

"I think he died." I called to them with a shrug.

This caused Fang to laugh, bringing him back to visibleness... I don't care if that isn't a word.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa._" Ratchet said. "You can turn invisible? What the heck man?" he whispered.

Fang shrugged.

"He can't turn _invisible_. He just blends in… like a-" I started.

"Chameleon." Fang finished for me.

"Jeas. You guys are weird. Finishing each others sentences, having these freaking mind conversations. Your like Siamese twins!" Ratchet rolled his eyes and returned to his seat.

"Siamese twins?" I asked as he walked away.

"Never mind." Ratchet called from his seat next to Kate.

Fang rolled his eyes and settled back into his seat.

"You're a very good chameleon." I grinned at him.

He nodded his head in appreciation. "And you… are a _fabulous _little Elf." he patted my head.

I whapped him on the back of his head.

"What?" He laughed. "It's true! You're a small little elf kin without even trying!" That made him laugh harder.

"Your just freakishly tall!" I laughed.

"That's exactly what an elf would say."

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Fine, I'm freakishly tall, and compared to me, you are freakishly small." Fang smirked.

"So where does that leave us?" I asked him, glaring at him, but smiling at the same time.

"You're an Elf Girl… and I'm"

I cut him off. "Fang the chameleon who's freakishly tall. But Fang the Chameleon will do." I smiled angelically.

"I was gonna say freakishly awesome but I guess Fang the Chameleon will do." Fang shrugged.

I rolled my eyes at him.

He pulled out his laptop and started typing. I craned my neck to read it.

He chuckled at my struggle. "I'm just updating my blog Max. Chill."

"Oh. Alright." I exhaled and leaned my head back on the seat.

He typed for a really long time.

Eventually I fell asleep. Probably because I was so stressed that my body put me into sleep mode before I bit my fingernails down to nothing.

I woke up to the bright flash of a camera and a few high-pitched giggles.

"Nudge! Angel!" I whisper yelled so that I didn't wake up the other people on the plane. "Give me the freaking camera!"

"Awe but Max! You guys look so cute!" Nudge squealed. Angel nodded and winked at me.

They tilted the camera towards me and I leaned forward to see the picture, only to be stopped by Fang's iron embrace, he was totally asleep, and had his arms "protectively" around me, I could barely move. They titled Angel's camera closer to me with identical grins.

The picture was of Fang and me.

My head was on Fangs shoulder and my hands were locked on his shirt, my face was peaceful. His head was leaning on top of my head and both of his arms were wrapped around me, his hands locked together on my right side.

Uncontrollably, I smiled.

I _smiled._

Then I leaned my head up to Fang's ear and tried to make my voice sound panicked.

"Fang!" I whispered urgently. "Eraserboys have found us and there's thousands of them!"

"Fridge-with-wings!" He muttered, jerking awake, his arms tightened around me. "Where? What? Who?" then he looked at me and I smirked. "Ha ha. Hilarious Max. Really funny."

"I know." I smiled, leaning my face slowly towards his, then stopping when I was half way there. My eyes widened when I realized what I'd been about to do.

I was going to _kiss _him on the cheek. Like old times when we'd joke around.

He looked confused. "What-"

"Nothing! It was nothing!" I grumbled.

He laughed quietly and shook his head.

Then the plane turned violently.

"HOLY CRAP WE'RE GONNA DIE!" I screamed, clutching Fangs arm as if my life depended on it.

"Max! Shut up!" He wrapped both arms around me and pressed his face into my hair. Fang murmured. "The planes turning."

My eyes widened and swore under my breath.

He rubbed my shoulders. "It's alright…" He whispered, then chuckled.

"What?" I whispered.

"Listen to your heart fly?" He breathed into my blonde locks.

I laughed airily. "Birds panic when they're scared."

"Mmmmhmmm." He nodded. "You're alright."

Then the peaceful voice of the flight attendant came on. "Attention ladies and gentlemen. We will be landing in La Guardia airport in five minutes. Please gather all belongings and prepare for landing."

I laughed nervously. "Yay."

Fang nodded.

Then I realized that Angel was still there. Nudge had gone back to sit with Iggy and was now taking his hand and telling him where to go to get off the plane.

Angel looked at me and smiled, nodding her head ever so slightly. Fang, sadly, noticed this.

"What?"

"Nothing." I smiled.

"Tell me."

"No!" Angel and I said together then laughed.

"Tell me."

"Nada."

"Fine." He sighed.

"Good." I smiled victoriously.

Fang put his mouth right nest to my ear. "For now."

I growled quietly.

He chuckled and leaned beck into his seat.

We were off the plane within fifteen minutes and out of the airport in twenty.

Fang's gang rented a car with the left over money.

"Wait. Where are we going?" I asked.

"Uh…" Ratchet said.

"Max… your… your… mom is moving the DG… to Arizona." Fang finished for him.

My breathing stopped for the slightest second. "Okay." I whispered. "then… to Arizona."

I extended my wings. Everybody else did the same.

Fang's wing brushed mine ever so slightly. I knew this was no accident, this was his way of comforting me, I liked it way more than what Dylan did.

Dylan came behind me and wrapped his arms around me. "Are you okay?" He whispered.

I shoved away from him. "Of course I am." I muttered.

I extended my wings once more. "U and A flock."

We took off into the sky and flew above the clouds.

"Hey." Fang called to me.

"Hey." I responded.

I angled downwards, followed by the flock. We went beneath the clouds and we could see the countryside now. There was nobody to be seen for miles.

But just in case, I whirled in a one-eighty just to check behind the flock.

There was a familiar cloud of bulky figures flying behind us. My stomach convulsed.

"Flock! Drop now!" I yelled. We all tucked our wings in a plummeted until we were twenty feet above the ground.

"Max… are they?" Fang asked.

"They're eraserboys, Fang." I whispered. "And they brought back up."

There were way more than a hundred, more than two hundred eraserboys coming for us.

Fang whipped his phone out and called Ratchet.

"Ratchet, drive as fast as you can to the deserted countryside. There're eraserboys coming… and we need some back up."

Fang closed his phone and flew over to me, he took my hand. "They're not taking you again." he kissed my cheek and squeezed my hand.

Butterflies went through my stomach for the slightest second. Fang just _kissed _me. _Fang kissed me_.

I shook the thought away

"I know." I grimaced at him. "Just… _you be careful._"

"Don't worry about me." He shook his head.

I rolled my eyes and kept his hand. Then I started whispering urgently. "Angel go behind Fang and I." She didn't argue and did as I said. "Nudge, Iggy go above. Iggy, Nudge will tell you where attackers are coming from." They nodded and flew above us, hand in hand for guidance. "Dylan, go to my right. Maya, go on Fang's left." they did so and we prepared for the fight.

"Be safe guys." Fang murmured.

I squeezed his hand again. "We can win this." I said stronger than before.

Fangs gang's car squealed to a stop under us as the eraserboys lunged at us.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

**_I CHANGED THIS CHAPTER FROM THE FIRST TIME! For those of you who have reviewed and read this already! (Check out the part where Fang kisses Max on the cheek, I changed the part after it, meaning I added)  
><em>**

_**I updated again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And the Fax! Sorry about the cliff hanger but hey! What's a chapter with out a little cliffy?  
><strong>_

**_Thanks to MaxRideLuver02, storycat12, Fyrepheonix16, X-X Faxness X-X, Percabethgirl2645, Narwhalesandsnikahs, and snowswirl66 for reviewing! Thank you so so so so so so much! You guys are the best!_**

**_I will be updating tonight or tomorrow.  
><em>**

**_Please keep reviewing!_**

**_Thanks!_**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

FANG

Up close, these eraserboys were even more disgusting than from far away.

Anger bubbled in my stomach, they'd captured Max. They'd tried to kill her.

They lunged forward and I braced my self, I swung Max behind me.

"Fang don't!" she yelled, struggling to free herself but I kept her in an iron hold, one arm pressed against her waist, keeping her behind me.

Then the eraserboys reached us and I flew directly in front of Max as they smashed into me. One grabbed me by my throat, I was just about to kick him in the gut when he let out a shriek as Max kicked him where it counts and he dropped like a rock.

"Thanks." I called.

She nodded and whirled around, going back to back with me.

"You. Are. A. Fridge. With. Wings!" I ground out, punching with each word.

Max laughed. Like she actually laughed as I re-said my words from when we'd been fighting flying erasers for the first time.

Max was amazing while she fought, no trace of fear was reflected in her eyes as she ground punches, kicked hard, and battled at least five at a time.

"Iggy! Three, four, five, six, and seven o'clock!" Nudge screamed.

I saw Iggy whirl around and won all five fights within seconds.

"Thanks Nudge!" He yelled to her, as he ripped an eraserboy off of her.

I didn't hear her response.

"HEY! DOWN HERE!" Ratchet yelled from the ground. "YEAH! SEE US? COME AND GET US YOU BALLERINA'S ON STEREROIDS."

Half of the eraserboys flew down to fight with them.

"Ratchet! Be careful!" I yelled to him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know!" He yelled back.

"FANG! LOOK OUT!" Max screamed from behind me.

I ducked and turned around to see a fist fly just over my head. I kicked and eraserboy in the gut and sent him flying backwards.

The group of eraserboys we were fighting in the air was thinning; some were flying away in defeat.

"Max! Let's go help Ratchet and the others." She nodded.

"Flock! Down!" She yelled and we all dropped down, ripping attackers off of my gang.

God these things were heavy… and _big_.

I ripped one off of Ratchet and yelled. "Ratchet. Car. NOW!"

He nodded and I cleared a path for him and he hopped in and started the ignition.

Then Kate screamed bloody murder and collapsed.

"KATE!" Ratchet yelled, hurtling out of the car and ripping four eraserboys off of her, picking her limp form up from the ground and dashing back to the car.

"Star. Run. NOW!" I yelled.

"No way!"

"Just DO IT!"

"FINE!" She yelled and sprinted away.

Holden was bleeding like crazy. I flew over to him, picked him up, and tossed him into Ratchets car.

"RATCHET! GO, GO, GO!" I yelled. He nodded and drove away as fast as the car would go.

I was relieved for the slightest moment. Until Max screamed, "Fang. Turn. Now!"

I did as she told and got a punch in the face that would've knocked me out if it'd hit me in the back of the head.

Blood ran from my nose.

I glanced around and landed another punch on an eraserboy.

Iggy and Nudge were back to back, fighting from every angle.

Angel was putting some serious smack down on an eraserboy who was unlucky enough to call her a "little twerp".

Gazzy had just gotten done letting a fart rip and all his attackers flew away, coughing from the noxious fumes.

Max was twisting and turning in the air. "Up!"

We all rose once more.

I wiped blood from my nose and chopped down right above an eraserboys wing joint.

"I am one of many!" He called as he fell.

I laughed darkly and flew over to help Angel.

Together, Angel and I took out ten of the monsters.

"Thanks for the help Fang."

I nodded and patted her head.

Then Max screamed.

I whirled to see her.

She was frozen in place, staring at a malicious looking eraserboy. He looked terribly familiar.

Then I realized who he looked liked.

Ari. Max's half brother. He'd died twice. And come back to life waaaay more than that.

'Ari' saw me and his eyes lit up, his glare intensifying. Then he lunged at me.

Claws out.

Teeth clamped.

"Here we go." I muttered as he smashed into me with all two-hundred pounds of him.

We hurtled backwards, him clawing at me, ripping my shirt, and slicing my skin ever so slightly, I refused to wince.

"Not again." I yelled at him and threw him off.

"We-will-see-about-that." He said in a highly robotic voice.

"Oh yes we will." I lunged forward at him and locked my arms around his neck, but he jammed his claws into my stomach.

I inhaled quickly and shoved him off again, gasping at the pain as my vision blurred.

_C'mon Fang. Stay with it! _I thought.

"Fang!" Max screamed, I dully saw her being held by eraserboys.

Iggy was knocked out on the ground. Nudge was screaming for him to wake up from her position of bein trapped like Max.

Ari pushed me down to the ground and I smashed my back onto the hard dirt, hitting my head on a rock and feeling blood seep out of it.

He slammed my head down again and Max screamed. "STOP! STOP! ARI OR WHATEVER YOU ARE! STOP! LEAVE HIM ALONE."

The robot laughed and slammed my head down again. My vision blurred.

I kicked him off of me and he stumbled back a bit. I picked myself up and braced for the fight.

Ari tackled me once more, outweighing my by over one hundred pounds.

He raised his fist and smashed it down on my face.

The last thing I heard was Max's scream and Ari's maniacal laugh.

Then I blacked out.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey howdy hey!<strong>_

**_I updated again! I hope you guys like this! I know I kinda repeated the school's out forever... but I promise they won't meet the FBI or anything like that._**

**_Thanks to anon, Black Venom, Readingcutie428, Fyrepheonix16, storycat12, MaxRideLuver02, Percabethgirl2645, and Snowswirl66 for reviewing! I really appreciate all the nice things you guys say! If you haven't reviewed yet, REVIEW PLEASE! And if you have already reviewed... KEEP REVIEWING PLEASE!  
><em>**

**_So, there's been some reviewers telling me that the epilogue comes AFTER the story. And I know. I just keep forgetting to change it! Thanks for letting me know guys! And just so you know... I HAVE FINALLY CHANGED IT!  
><em>**

**_I'll update very soon!_**

**_Thanks!_**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

MAX

"FANG!" Tears were streaming down my face as I screamed his name, sobbing uncontrollably as Ari smashed Fangs head on a rock for the umpteenth time.

_Not Fang. Not Fang. Please for the love of God, not Fang. _I thought wildly.

"Fang!" Angel was yelling too, looking at me with a terrified expression.

"No Fang!" Nudge wailed. "Iggy! Wake up! You've gotta wake up! Please! _Iggy_!" she sobbed.

Maya was unconscious in the arms of an eraserboy; she'd been bashed on the head in battle. Dylan's mouth was bleeding and he was struggling harder than anyone against his captors, staring at Maya's limp form with a look of determination, then they bashed him on the head as well.

"Dylan!" I yelled, but he was unconscious like Maya.

Fang kicked Ari away from him and scrambled back up to his feet, bracing once more. But Ari, or whatever that _thing_ was, outweighed him by over a hundred pounds and tackled him easily to the ground.

He smashed Fang's head once more time and blood spurted out from the back of Fang's head.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, now speechless with rage and fear.

Fangs eyelids fluttered and then shut, not opening again.

"GET OFF ME!" I shrieked, struggling against the monsters holding me. "_GET OFF ME! LEAVE HIM ALONE!_"

They grabbed my elbow and yanked it behind my back, dislocating my shoulder, I screamed Fang's name once more as Ari prepared to administer a fatal blow.

Then everything happened in a blur.

Ari raised Fang's head again, only to pause as a car screeched to a stop and Ratchet came sprinting out, running straight into the eraserboy/Ari-bot and sending him over sideways.

The eraserboys were so surprised by this that they loosened their grip just enough that I could break free and break everyone of their noses.

Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy all flew to the ground, Dylan fell the ten feet to the ground along with Maya, the fall wouldn't be fatal, and for that I was thankful, but now I had to help Ratchet get rid of… that _thing _he was battling.

I jumped on top of Ari and started punching him in the face… repeatedly. Angry tears were flowing down my face as I beat him to a pulp. He shoved me off of him and stood up, towering over me, blood running down his face, he kicked me in the ribs, probably breaking a few of them.

He stepped forward to do more damage, but then the flock landed beside me, along with the rest of Fang's gang, who had just come out of the car to help us.

I shrugged my shoulders as the robot snarled in defeat. "I'm one of many." I smirked. "And I think you should probably just fly away now."

"We-will-be-back." He said robotically.

I nodded. "And we'll be ready."

He extended his grotesquely long wings and was gone a minute later.

I crawled over to Fang and pulled his head into my lap, I saw Nudge was doing the same to Iggy.

"Angel… water… please." I muttered frantically, she nodded and dashed away to find my backpack, which had dropped to the ground in the fight.

She was back in half a minute with two water bottles, one for me, and one for Nudge.

I thanked her and she nodded and went to take watch as we cared for my injured flock and Fang's gang.

I let the blood run out of Fang's mouth and into the dirt, a piece of one of his teeth came out with it, and then I rinsed the left over blood out with some water, cleaned his head wound out with some disinfecting wipes from the mini first-aid kit.

"Fang." I whispered, so only he could hear me. "If you can hear me, then I need you to wake up." I wiped some blood out of his black hair. "You're gonna be okay Fang. I know you are."

I looked up at my disgruntled flock.

"Let's head for those tree's," I pointed to the group of dense trees about four hundred feet away, then looked at Fang's gang. "Can you guys help us get Maya, Dylan, Fang, and Iggy over there?"

They all nodded without taking their eyes off of Fang, their fallen leader.

"Is he—dead?" Holden asked, horrified. The gang gasped at Holden's question.

"No. He's breathing." I ran a hand through Fang's hair. "He'll come to. This isn't the first time this has happened to him. He's tough." I smiled slightly.

They nodded and moved to help us move the injured members of the flock and Dylan and Maya.

Star carried Maya over her shoulder, Holden and Nudge carried Iggy, Ratchet carried Kate, Gazzy drug Dylan through the dirt, and I carried Fang by his arms and Angel picked his feet up.

We stopped at a stream in the middle of the small forest, where I leaned against a tree, facing the gurgling water and pulled Fang's head into my lap. I noticed it was getting dark.

"Get some sleep flock," I called, Nudge shook her head and pointed to the still unconscious Iggy in her lap. I nodded at her. "You can stay up Nudge, you can help me with the watch."

She smiled thankfully.

The flock stood there for a few seconds, looking at Fang and Iggy.

"Mufflagaha!" Dylan jerked back to consciousness.

I sighed in relief. "Dylan. How do you feel?"

He spit in his hand and rubbed it over his bleeding head. "Not bad actually."

"Good." I smiled. "Can you fix up Maya's head?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Try to use as little magic spit as possible." I said to him.

He grimaced and nodded again.

"Ange, Gaz. they'll be okay." I raised my eyebrows at them. "Go to sleep and I'll wake you up when we're ready to go."

They nodded and flew up into the same tree, not wanting to be separated. Fang's gang dispersed into the trees, Star

Dylan fixed Maya's head and a few minutes later she woke up and hugged him tightly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to her feet. She stumbled slightly and he wrapped his arms more tightly around her.

"Dylan, get some sleep." I said to him.

He nodded. "Okay Max." then flew up into a tree with Maya still in his arms.

Nudge was ruffling through my backpack.

"What are you looking for sweetie?" I asked quietly.

"This." She pulled out a shirt that had already been torn. "It's already ripped, we may as well use it to clean Iggy and Fang up."

I nodded.

She dabbed Iggy's head with a piece of wet fabric. He stirred ever so slightly.

"Iggy?" She asked.

"Nudge?" He murmured back, slowly reaching up a shaking hand and feeling her face, a tear leaked out of her eye. Then he sighed in relief. "Nudge."

"I'm here Ig." She whispered softly.

He smiled and opened his eyes. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah Ig, we're fine." I called to him. "How 'bout you go get some rest."

Both nodded tiredly and flew up into a tree to sleep.

Now I had to check the damage Ari had done to Fang, I'd been holding this off until everybody was asleep, I didn't want to worry them.

I had to cut his demolished shirt slowly out of his deep wounds because it was stuck in there. Then I pealed it carefully away from his skin, tossing it into the creak and watching it flow downstream.

"Oh… Fang." I sighed, surveying the damage.

Fang had five parallel gashes running from his shoulder to the bottom of his stomach, which were all at least an inch thick. His head was still bleeding and he had several puncture wounds from Ari's claws jabbing into his stomach repeatedly.

I ripped a big wad of fabric off of the shirt Nudge had used and dipped it into the stream, dabbing gently at the slices until the dirt and blood was out of them.

I cleaned his head last. His jet black hair was matted with sticky, drying blood and the long slash in the back of his head was still oozing a bit of blood. I cleaned it out as best as I could and gently dipped the back of Fang's head into the stream, letting the water run across the gash and clear out anything I didn't get.

I grabbed some gauze from the back and wrapped it around Fang's torso, starting at the top of his right shoulder and weaving down until I reach the end of the longest gash, which was right below his belly button. Instead of wrapping his entire head, I took some medical tape and some more gauze and stuck it over the cut.

I sighed when I was done, satisfied with my work.

I really hate eraserboys.

"You're gonna be okay, Fang." I whispered to him, kissing his clammy forehead lightly, he sighed quietly, but didn't open his eyes.

I leaned against the tree trunk and absentmindedly ran my fingers through Fang hair, which was now as long as it was before he'd cut it. I smiled slightly to myself.

Then, two voices caught my attention. I listened harder and realized it was Iggy and Nudge talking quietly to each other.

"How do you feel?" Nudge asked quietly.

"Awful. But probably not as bad as Fang." Iggy sighed. "I should've woken up. I should've been able to help him. I was _right there._"

"Iggy, it's okay. You were out cold." Nudge cooed. "Besides, Fang's gonna be okay. Like Max said, he's been through this before, he's tough."

Iggy sighed again. "Goodnight Nudge."

"Night Ig."

Then they were silent. I smiled to myself and looked at Fang again. He stirred a bit and his breathing finally slowed to a normal, symmetric pace. I wiped his bangs out of his eyes and continued running my fingers through his hair, it calmed me as I kept a sharp eye and ear out eraserboys or any other attacker.

And that's how my night went: listening to my flock, running my fingers through Fang's hair, and listening for threats.

Fun right?

Not.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated again! Hope you liked it!**_

_**Thanks to Snowswirl66, MaxRideLover02, Booklover72, and Fyrepheonix16 for reviewing! Thank you soo soo much! Not much reviewers this time but that's okay! Please keep reviewing or review!**_

_**I'll update soon!**_

___**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

FANG

My head was killing me, my mouth tasted like blood, and my entire torso was stinging like crazy.

Though I'd never admit it, I felt like crap.

I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of leaves and creek water.

I felt a hand running through my hair. I'll never admit this either, but it felt amazing having those fingers run through my hair.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw Max leaning against a tree, her face turned away from me and her eyes alert and her wings tucked in behind her back. My head was in her lap.

It was still dark out, around two in the morning according to the stars. A slight breeze ran through the forest.

I started to sit up, only to have two hands go on my shoulders and have Max Force me gently, yet forcefully, and back to the ground.

"Fang. Don't you make me knock you out cold! You need rest!" She said.

"Max." I said. "I'm fine!"

"Oh? Really?" She glared down at me and gently placed a hand over my burning stomach, I looked at her hand and stifled a gasp, my entire torso was wrapped in layers of gauze, and there was a slight pink tinge to them: my blood. Max nodded. "Yeah, dummy, you're not going anywhere."

She smirked at me and stood up, setting my head on the ground and ruffling through her backpack and extracting a black t-shirt, she tossed this to me. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Put it on so the flock and you're gang don't worry." She sighed. "And it's that or a yellow one."

"Hello? I'm _Fang_!" I motioned to my black pants and shoes. "Black _only_!"

She laughed, put to fingers into her mouth and whistled to wake the flock up. "C'mon flock! Up and at em'!" She yelled.

Gazzy was the first to fall out of his tree, literally, he forgot to flap and smacked into the ground, groaning.

"GAZ!" Max ran over to him and picked him up from the ground, dusting him off and checking his wings.

Angel jumped down from the same tree, laughing her head off at her brother's idiotic mistake.

"I'm fine Max!" The little boy laughed, stepping away from Max and nudging Angel playfully.

Nudge hopped out of a different tree and mumbled "Was so funny?" Iggy hopped down next to her.

"How're feeling Iggy?" Max asked.

"Better." He sighed smiling.

"You're welcome." Nudge whispered in his ear, even though he didn't say thank you.

Iggy rolled his blind eyes and patted Nudges head. "Thank you Nudge."

She nodded appreciatively and looked at me, eyes wide. "Fang!" she ran over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly.

"Hey Nudge." I said, wincing slightly, but hugging her back.

"Let the man breath Nudge!" Angel laughed, hugging Fang after Nudge.

"Fang. You wanna summon your gang?" Max raised her eyebrows at me and muttered. "Geez you guys sleep in late."

I rolled my eyes and stood up slowly. "Gang! Can't sleep the day away anymore! Up and at em!" Kate looked like she was going to chuck a rock at me, then decided against when she saw the bruises on my face. Maya looked down at me sleepily from her position leaning against Dylan's chest, she tugged on his ear and woke him up, they jumped out of the tree and went to join the flock. Star was already with the flock. Ratchet pulled Kate to her feet and they walked with his arm around her for 'support' as Ratchet put it.

Max was already roasting some sort of meat and it was practically smoldering.

"Max." I said.

"What?" She asked.

I pointed to the flaming animal on her skewer.

"Crap!" She pulled it out of the fire. "Breakfast guys."

The flock rushed forward and each ripped apiece off. My gang awkwardly stood there, unsure what to do. Should they eat the random piece of meat? or wait for something like they were… used to.

I tore off my own piece. "Eat up guys." I said to them.

They rushed forward because they were so hungry and each took a piece, and then went to sit next to the flock.

"Where to Max?" Iggy asked.

Max sighed as she finished inhaling the food. "We're gonna stay here for today, because half of us are hurt."

I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off and said. "Put a sock in it Fang. You're the worst of all of us." Everybody nodded. "Iggy, Dylan, Maya, and you are hurt, we're gonna chill here, stay in the trees. Just for today." I could tell she hated the idea, but she hid it pretty well. "And tomorrow, we're going all the way to Arizona, from there, I don't know what."

She shook her head and rubbed her temple.

"You need sleep Max." Dylan said, rubbing her shoulders lightly and hesitantly. "You were up all night taking watch."

I nodded in agreement.

Max sighed tiredly and nodded, resigned. "Who's taking watch?"

"I will." I said.

"No you won't!" Max said.

"We will." Ratchet said, motioning to my gang.

Max nodded. "Yeah. Sure, you guys can spread out around the perimeter."

The gang, excluding Maya, nodded and walked away, dispersing to different sections of the forest.

Max held out her hand and helped me up, she flew up into a tree and I went into the one next to her. Dylan went into the one to her left. Maya went to Dylan's left. Iggy and Nudge flew up to a tree to my left. Angel and Gazzy went in a tree directly in front of Max.

I sat awake, watching Max slowly let her eyes drift shut and listening to her breathing slow. But she jerked back to consciousness, clutching her head.

"Max?" I whispered quietly.

"'M fine." she muttered gruffly. "Head ach."

She shut her eyes once more and fell asleep. I did the same and lapsed into a dreamless and heavy sleep, only to be woken up to the last thing I wanted to hear:

Max's blood-curdling screams and a thump as she fell out of her tree and onto the ground, writhing in agony and clutching her head.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated again!**_

_**Thanks to Fyrepheonix16, Adalyn333, Onyx Shadows, Booklover72, Readingcutie428, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, wisteria, LoiscAwsome, and Percabethgirl2645 for the reviews!**_

_**LoisAwsome: There's a reason for Angel not being able to read minds. Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough.**_

_**Wiseria: Thanks for the advice! I'll try to work on that!**_

_**iLoOoVeOrAnGe: It's okay that you didn't review last chapter, I won't cry myself to sleep over it. :) But I do love it when people review for every chapter! But if you can't, that's okay! (that applies to everybody)**_

_**Percabethgirl2645: I'm a little confused... do you still think Max is off? if you do: then thank you for telling me because I want to fix anything that's wrong with them! Please review and retell your thoughts! :) I appreciate the advice!**_

_**Thanks for all the advice guys!**_

_**Hope you liked the chapter!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**maximumwriter19**_


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

MAX

My brain exploded in a rush of agony; I fell out of my tree and smashed into the ground, in too much pain to catch myself. I hardly even felt myself hit the ground.

_Please. Let me die. _I thought wildly, screaming in pain.

People were yelling, somebody cursed loudly, probably Iggy, and a ton of voices were screaming my name.

But I was gone from reality at that point.

Then visions flashed through my brain like a TV screen.

A white coat was standing in a room with three black and white ultrasounds clutched in his hands. Two were obviously boys and the third was a girl. The baby's all had wings growing from their backs. "Yes. They are perfect." The white coat whispered happily.

Next, there were two white coats staring at some screens in a dark room. On the screens, there were three small dog crates sitting in a lab. A little girl with dirty-blonde hair, brown eyes, and tan skin, she couldn't have been more than four years old, was in one of the cages. The child was pressed against the bars of her cage, looking shyly at the other two cages, where two boys were leaning against their bars as well. The one to her left had jet-black hair that hung in his eyes, olive skin, and onyx eyes, the boy looked no older than the little girl. He whispered something to the little girl, a slight smile on his face, the girl laughed slightly, along with the boy in the cage to her right. The other boy had blond hair, pale blue eyes, and extremely fair skin; he looked the same age as the other two. One white coat turned to the other. "The girl is beginning to form bonds with the boys, it is good that this is already starting at such a young age." The other one, who looked much younger, nodded and said. "But, when will this happen, how long must we wait sir?" The older shook his head at the other and spoke to him once more. "Patience, Jeb. She will choose when she is ready, it is good we have begun this test so early." Jeb nodded, saying nothing, as he stared at the monitor, where the three kids were now laughing, it was like they weren't even in a lab that would torture them and test them.

The next showed the three children, now around five, running through a maze, all looking horrified as they came to another dead end. "We need to fly." the little girl said. "Come on! We'll die in here if we don't." She extended her dappled wings, the other did the same. The boy to her right extended his black ones and the boy to her left extended his blond ones. They awkwardly started flapping, looking nervous, but they finally reached the top of the maze and glanced over it, seeing a path. They dropped back to the ground and ran. But then the ground beneath the girl collapsed and she was left clinging to the jagged sides at the top of a pit that had been concealed by a thin layer of glass, a trap. "Fang! Iggy!" She wailed, extending her wings but forgetting how to fly in her panic. Her fingers slipped from the edge and she started falling, only to have they black haired boy, Fang, grab her hand and pull her back to solid ground. "You okay?" he asked her quietly, wiping glass shards from her hair, the blond boy, Iggy, wiped dust off of her shoulders. "You look terrified Max." he muttered. "Well I did almost _die_!" She yelled, both boys smirked and then they took off running through the maze with Max in front, Fang on her right in his second in command position, and Iggy on her left in his third in command spot.

The fourth showed six winged children now, standing in a lab room around Iggy, who had bandages over his eyes and was sitting on an operating table, the white coats were gone from the room, leaving the children alone, they could freely roam about the room, out of their cages for a short time. A little girl with dark skin and fluffy brown hair was sitting next to the boy, she looked around five, the oldest three (Max, Fang, and Iggy) were about eight now. Max was holding an infant with little white wings in her arms and had a boy of about three clinging to her leg nervously, the baby started to cry and she rocked her back and forth. "Shhhh, Angel. Shhhh. it's alright." Max cooed. The dark girl, Nudge, hugged Iggy and whispered to him so quickly that nobody could hear but him. Fang raised his eyebrows at Max. Iggy slowly removed his bandages from his eyes, revealing two perfectly blue eyes that looked exactly the same as they'd looked before the surgery the white coats had put him through. "What do you see Ig?" Max asked quietly. "I—I don't see anything! I—I can't see!" Iggy yelled, touching his face frantically. "I'M BLIND! THEY TOOK MY SIGHT AWAY!" The newly formed flock gasped and hugged the now sobbing Iggy. "I'm blind." he moaned. "I'll never see again." The white coat, Jeb, observing the scene turned to face the elder white coat. "The surgery was unsuccessful. What are we supposed to do now?" The elder white coat shrugged. "Terminate the blind one, he is no use to us." the elder left the room. Jeb looked forlornly at the screen that showed the captivated children, then walked out the door with a thoughtful look.

The next scene was of the original two white coats, Jeb and the older man. "The girl, Maximum is forming strong, sisterly bonds with the two boys, now called Fang and Iggy. It seems that this will take longer than expected." the older one said with a sigh. Jeb coughed and said, "So, now we simply test them in other areas until the time comes that she chooses, whenever that may be?" the other nodded, "They will be here for all of their lives, Jeb. She will choose, whether she want's to or not." The elder left the room once more and Jeb followed silently, a look of determination etched into his young features.

The final scene showed the young white coat, Jeb, tiptoeing down a dark hallway, pushing his glasses up nervously and wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, then unlocking a door that read "Avian room". He opened it silently and crouched down next to Max's cage, whispering. "I'm going to get all of you out of here, but you need to trust me." The eight-year-old girl glared at him and spat. "Why would we do that?". Jeb sighed and whispered. "Because I'm your only hope." then he unlocked the doors of each cage releasing the stunned flock…

* * *

><p>"MAX!"<p>

"Max! Wake up!"

A jumble of voices was yelling above my head, but one stood out among them.

"Everyone shut up!" Fang yelled and everybody was silent. "Max! Max it's not real!" he whispered.

I jerked into consciousness and inhaled sharply. I opened my eyes and leaning my face into some bushes to barf my guts out.

When I turned back around, the entire flock was staring at me nervously.

I sighed and wiped the tears and cold sweat from my face. "I'm fine, guys. Just give me a minute. I'll tell you about it later." They nodded and walked away to sit by the fire and wait. "Fang, go." I motioned for him to join them; he nodded slowly and turned on his heel to leave. "Angel." I called, she turned nervously, I waved her over.

"What is it Max?" she asked.

"You were right Angel." I said quickly, she smiled and her eyes widened. "I saw it, in my head. I'll tell you more about it later, when every bodies asleep."

"Okay Max. How do you feel?" she asked.

"I'm fine sweetie." She hugged me.

I stood up, letting her go, and walked over to the gurgling stream, dunking my face into it and taking a large gulp of the crystal clear, cold water. Then I went to join my worried flock, preparing for the interrogation.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I updated again! I know it's been pretty constant... but I will not be updating as continuously this week. I'll update a lot on the week ends but not as frequently during the week. Just a heads up!**_

_**Thanks to Fyrepheonix16, Snowswirl66, Onyx Shadows, Percabethgirl2645, Readingcutie428, storycat12, Booklover72, MaxRideLuver02, k, anon, maxfan46, Ira Night, and Wholock's Worlock for the AMAZING reviews! Please keep it up!**_

**_Just so that you all know... Iggy and Nudge are just as close to being siblings as Max and Fang are... And Max and Fang were like "together" and now they just... I don't know where. So if NIGGY is the same as FAX, except it's Nudge and Iggy! Just so it's all clear! haha sorry for that rant...  
><em>**

**_I'd like to have a little vote, if you like NIGGY, tell me in a review! If you like EGGY, tell me in a review!_**

**_Thanks!_**

_**maximumwriter19**_

_**P.S. I fixed my spelling of Angels name in my summary! Just so you all know!  
><strong>_


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

FANG

I was totally wigging out as I watched Max writhing on the ground.

Angel was bawling her eyes out.

Nudge was screaming at the top of her lungs.

Iggy was capping a hand over Nudges mouth, muffling the screeching.

Gazzy was just staring wide eyed at Max.

Dylan was shouting out Random things, ranging from. "What's happening to her?" to "Holy crap SHE'S DYING!"

"She's not dying!" I yelled at him. "Just shut up and wait for it to be over, she's gone from reality at this point."

Everybody shut up. Nudge screamed for a little to long, then she stopped after Iggy went "NUDGE!"

Dylan and I knelt down next to Max, she screamed louder and thrashing, then she went still and silent.

"Max! Max wake up!" Nudge screamed.

"Max! It's all right! You're fine!" Angel sobbed.

"Everyone shut up!" I yelled everybody went silent. "Max, it isn't real!" I whispered to her.

She jerked back to reality, sat up, and barfed into some bushes.

"I'm fine" She said. "Just give me a minute guys." Everybody walked back to the fire. "Go Fang." I nodded and walked away, too. She called Angel over, and I watched as Angel smiled and Max nodded as she told the seven year old something.

Angel came back to us and sat next to me, beaming as she gazed at the fire.

_These brain attacks are getting out of hand. _I thought to myself.

Then Angel's smile faltered and she looked at me. "What did you say?" she asked.

I raised my eyebrows as Max joined us and sat on my other side. "I didn't say anything." I said to Angel.

"Yes you did. You said 'These brain attach's are getting out of hand'." She said.

"No he didn't." Everybody said.

"I _heard you_…." Angel whispered. "In my head."

"Wait what? You can read minds again?" Max yelled.

Angel looked at Max and got a look of utter concentration on her face, then sighed sadly. "Now I can't here anything again."

I patted her shoulder consolingly and said. "Speaking of brain attacks… what did you see Max?"

Max's face paled. "I saw us." she took a deep breath as everybody stiffened. "We were at the school, and we were little. First it was just Me, Fang, and Iggy. The first was of a white coat looking at our ultrasounds, we had wings and everything before we were even born." We all listened intently. "The next thing was of Me, Fang, and Iggy again, we were in crates and I was leaning against the bars of my cage, looking at Iggy and Fang in the other cages. Fang told me a stupid fart joke and I laughed. We couldn't have been more than four. The next one was of the three of us running through that maze, you guys remember it don't you?"

Iggy and I nodded slightly, both freaked at remembering our days as toddlers in the school.

"We were stuck and needed to find a path, so we-" Max started.

"Flew for the first time." Iggy and I finished for her.

She nodded. "Then we found a path and took it, but I fell through that glass trap and Fang pulled me out."

She stopped talking.

"What came next?" I murmured.

"Th-the six of us were in the lab, Angel was in my arms and Gazzy was hanging on my leg. Iggy was sitting on a lab table with—with bandages on his—his eyes." A tear rolled down her cheek and Iggy's fist clenched at his sides. "Nudge was curled up into Iggy's side and he took off his bandages and… you know what happened." Everyone nodded sadly. "Then some old guy was talking with Jeb and he was saying… stuff… and then he said to kill Iggy because he was blind and of no use to them." Everyone gasped and Nudge grasped Iggy's arm nervously. "The final one showed Jeb rescuing us… from the school. Then it was over."

The flock was silent and Max leaned into my side with fatigue. I wrapped my arm around her and leaned my cheek on her head.

Nudge finally broke the silence. "Man this has been a really weird day. I mean Max had a brain attack and Angel sort of read Fang's mind but now she cant! How does that happen? I am so extremely confused by that because she used to be super awesome at reading minds, now she just can't! I wonfmgsha" Iggy put a hand on her mouth.

"We know Nudge." He patted her head. "We know."

Angel nodded. "I think the reason I can't read minds is because of the explosion and the DG doing all those things to me in the Lab." she grimaced. "I bet it's shock induced."

We all nodded as my gang returned tiredly from their watch, looking nervously at Max.

"I'm alright." She said to them, they nodded at sat down around the fire.

"Found some berries." Ratchet said, tossing us each a few wild berries, which we at quickly.

Gazzy farted a few minutes later. "I shouldn't have eaten those berries." he muttered.

We all laughed and plugged our noses.

By the time we were done laughing at Gazzy and filling my gang in about what had happened the sun had set and it was dark. Max was leaning into my side and her eyelids were drifting shut, but she kept on snapping them open.

"Who wants to take watch?" She mumbled.

"I will." Dylan said.

She nodded. "Flock. Bed. Now." She put her fist out and we all stacked them. "Gang, find a tree and sleep in it." I said, everybody nodded and dispersed.

Max yawned and stood up clapping her hands together. "C'mon Fang. Arizona tomorrow."

I smiled and followed her up into a massive oak tree.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I am sooooo soooo soooo soooo soooo soooo sorry that it's been soooo long since I updated I have been soooo super busy!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to BlackVenom, Adalyn333, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, Booklover72, Fyrepheonix16, storycat12, Onyx Shadows, Ira Night, Percabethgirl2645, Minimum Glide, EmIsForMax, and Meep23 for the wonderful reviews!  
><strong>_

_**Disclaimer: I am not James Patterson. I don't own MR and I didn't start the series. No matter how much wishing I do, I will never own Maximum Ride. But I do and always will, own this fanfiction.  
><strong>_

_**Sorry for the short chapter, I'll try and update again ASAP!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

MAX

I didn't dare fall asleep, I knew what my dreams would be about and I didn't want to relive that brain attack again, even in dream form.

I sat next to Fang on a huge tree branch in the middle of the massive oak tree. He wasn't falling asleep either; instead he sat there with me, silent as the grave.

Then he coughed and whispered. "What else did you see Max?"

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Max." He raised his eyebrows at me. "I know you. What you told the flock is definitely not all you saw. Tell me what else."

I sighed. "No. It's… it's not important."

"Like crap it's not important!" He whisper yelled.

I shook my head.

He smiled. "We never did talk on the plane you know."

"I know that." I grimaced.

"Talk. To. Me." He growled.

"Fang…" I wined.

"Max."

"Fine!" I yelled, and then clapped a hand over my own mouth.

"Max?" A different voice called from bellow me.

"Angel?" I asked.

"Let's talk for a second." She said as she popped her head up.

I nodded. "Be right back." I whispered to Fang as I hopped down to join Angel.

"Are you gonna tell him?" She whispered quickly.

I nodded. "I have no choice, he'll talk it out of me eventually."

She nodded and squeezed my hand. "It'll be okay, Max."

I smiled at her. "I know sweetie." I turned my head up to the tree where I saw the outline of Fang leaning forward to listen to our vague conversation. "Fang. Get your butt down here."

He was at my side in the next second.

"Finally decided to tell me?" He asked.

"C'mon." I extended my wings, followed by Angel, and then Fang.

The three of us flew out about a mile away from our camp, telling Dylan we'd be back later, he'd nodded stiffly at Fang and I but relaxed when he saw that Angel would be joining us.

I landed softly and sat down in the dirt with Angel next to me and Fang in front of the two of us.

"Where do I start?" I asked myself.

"The brain attack." Fang said quickly.

"Fine." I sighed. "So there were the three ultrasounds being held by some old white coat and he said 'yes. They are perfect.' Then the next one was of two white coats watching us on a screen. You were talking to me and you made me laugh. One white coat turned to the other. 'The girl is beginning to form bonds with the boys, it is good that this is already starting at such a young age.' The other one, who looked much younger, nodded and said. 'But, when will this happen, how long must we wait sir?' The older shook his head at the other and spoke to him once more. 'Patience, Jeb. She will choose when she is ready, it is good we have begun this test so early.' Jeb nodded, and watched us.

Fang said nothing and silently urged me to continue.

"The next showed the three of us, around five, running through a maze, all looking horrified as they came to another dead end. 'We need to fly.' I said. 'Come on! We'll die in here if we don't.' They awkwardly started flapping, but they finally reached the top of the maze and glanced over it, seeing a path. They dropped back to the ground and ran. But then the ground beneath me collapsed and I was was left clinging to the jagged sides at the top of a pit that had been concealed by a thin layer of glass, a trap. "Fang! Iggy!" I wailed, extending my wings but forgetting how to fly in utter panic. My fingers slipped from the edge and I started falling, only to have Fang, grab her hand and pull me back to solid ground. 'You okay?' You asked me, wiping glass shards from my hair, Iggy, wiped dust off of my shoulders. 'You look terrified Max.' he muttered. 'Well I did almost _die_!' I yelled, you guys smirked and then we took off running through the maze with me in front, you on my right in second in command position, and Iggy on my left in his third in command spot."

"I remember that day. It was the first physical test we'd ever had." Fang murmured thoughtfully. "It's weird thinking about it now, when it was so long ago. It feels like a whole lifetime ago."

I nodded._ "__The fourth showed the entire flock, standing in a lab room around Iggy, who had bandages over his eyes and was sitting on an operating table, the white coats were gone from the room, leaving us alone. Nudge was sitting next to the boy, she looked around five, the three of us were about eight now. I was holding Angle and Gazzy clinging to my leg nervously, Angel started to cry and I rocked her back and forth. 'Shhhh, Angel. Shhhh. it's alright.' I cooed. Nudge, hugged Iggy and whispered to him so quickly that nobody could hear but him. Fang raised his eyebrows at me. Iggy slowly removed his bandages from his eyes, revealing two perfectly blue eyes that looked exactly the same as they'd looked before the surgery the white coats had put him through. 'What do you see Ig?' I asked quietly. 'I—I don't see anything! I—I can't see!' Iggy yelled, touching his face frantically. 'I'M BLIND! THEY TOOK MY SIGHT AWAY!' The flock gasped and hugged the now sobbing Iggy. 'I'm blind.' he moaned. 'I'll never see again.' The white coat, Jeb, observing the scene turned to face the elder white coat. 'The surgery was unsuccessful. What are we supposed to do now?' The elder white coat shrugged. 'Terminate the blind one, he is no use to us.' the elder left the room. Jeb looked forlornly at the screen that showed the captivated children, then walked out the door with a thoughtful look._

The next scene was of the original two white coats, Jeb and the older man. 'The girl, Maximum is forming strong, sisterly bonds with the two boys, now called Fang and Iggy. It seems that this will take longer than expected.' the older one said with a sigh. Jeb coughed and said, 'So, now we simply test them in other areas until the time comes that she chooses, whenever that may be?' the other nodded, 'They will be here for all of their lives, Jeb. She will choose, whether she want's to or not.' The elder left the room once more and Jeb followed silently, a look of determination etched into his young features.

The final scene showed the young white coat, Jeb, tiptoeing down a dark hallway, pushing his glasses up nervously and wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, then unlocking a door that read 'Avian room'. He opened it silently and crouched down next to Max's cage, whispering. 'I'm going to get all of you out of here, but you need to trust me.' The eight-year-old girl glared at him and spat. 'Why would we do that?'. Jeb sighed and whispered. 'Because I'm your only hope.' then he unlocked the doors of each cage releasing the stunned flock…_"_ I finished finally and sighed. "That's it. I promise you there's nothing else."

He looked at me for a second, and then nodded. "I know that. But you're not done talking, Max. What does it mean when they said, 'she'll have to choose one of them'?"

My stomach clenched, I hoped that he'd forgotten about that. I looked at Angel and sighed as she nodded.

_Here we go… _I thought as Angle took a deep breath before beginning her explanation._  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello dear readers!<em>**

**_Haha. I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a super long time again, but this has been a really rough week for me and I had no time to update.  
><em>**

**_Thanks to meep23, storycat12, Booklover72, Fyrepheonix16, Adalyn333, AlaceRose, Wholock's Worlock, , Snowswirl66, BlackVenom, Onyx Shadows, Fiona Siona, and Fyre and Water for the amazing reviews! I hope you all don't hate me for taking so long to update! I love you all in a non-wierd way! Haha  
><em>**

**_I'll update ASAP!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

FANG

Ok. So I was so extremely confused after Max elaborated her brain attack.

Angel took a deep breath. "Max… Should I explain this part or…" Her voice trailed off.

Max shook her head and looked at me. "Dylan isn't my perfect other half." She said simply.

"What?" I asked.

"Angel?"

Angel took a deep breath. "The scientists made all of us. They chose us; our gender, our genetics, everything. They picked you, Iggy, and Max first and at the same time, that way you were nearly the same exact age. They had to be thinking that Max fall in love with one of them, but they weren't sure who." The little girl paused. "I believe that they originally created Iggy and you… for Max." My eyes widened. "That's why they chose the three of you. One girl, that's Max, and two boys, that's you and Iggy. Max had to choose one of you, in the white coats mind; you were going to be stuck at the school for your whole life, eventually Max had to fall for one of you. Then they got Nudge, and Max definitely wasn't gonna fall in love with her." The girls laughed quietly for a second. "And Gazzy was 8, so if she fell for him… that would be nasty, they figured you were smarter than that. I was just an extra gift they never expected to get. Gazzy and I's mother just sold both of us to the white coats."

"Wait… So what's even going on right now?" I asked confusedly.

"Please Fang, just listen." Angel said. "After you left, I realized that Max was better when you were with her. She was stronger, healthier, happier, she was Max when she was with you." She whispered. "She refused and still refuse to love Dylan. We, meaning the doctor and I, thought it would be easy for Dylan to win her heart, because he was her perfect other half, but then I realized something." Angel looked up at me. "Dylan was great. He was strong, kind, loving, and everything that a girl could want." I internally rolled my eyes and kept my face impassive, as always. "But that's not what you want Max." Angel shook her head at Max. "You want Fang. Because he's been with you your whole life, he knows everything about you by just looking into your eyes. He's fought on you side forever… He can read your mind just as well as I used to be able to, and that's not even his power." Angel looked back at me "You and Max have a connection that no distance could ever break."

Max awkwardly avoided my eyes, I remained silent.

"I'm really sorry!" Angel cried, throwing her arms around me, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm s-sorry for splitting you guys up. I was happy for you guys when you were together in Hawaii after we saved Max's mom, then something inside me snapped and… and…" She held back her tears. "And I wanted to split you up. I wanted you to be like you used to be. I wanted Max to be more of a leader." She wailed. "That's why I brought you to Doctor Gunther Hagen, so that you would have a drive to become a leader yourself. So that you would leave and let Max be with Dylan."

"Ange, sweetie it's alright." Max whispered, pulling Angel into her lap and rocking her back and forth.

I was totally shell shocked.

Dylan wasn't Max's other half?

Then who was?

_Oh no. _I thought.

_ It couldn't be…_

_ Me?_

I kept my voice steady. "So… What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Dylan isn't Max's perfect other half…" Angel looked at me and got a look of concentration on her face.

Then her voice made its way into my brain, in thought form.

_**You are Fang.**_Angel thought to me.

My brain before this: 0

My brain after this: °

See the difference?

_Holy crap! I'm Max's freaking perfect other half! What? How is this even possible? _I thought. _Then… What's… Dylan? _Then another thought hit me. _And Angel can read minds again? This is such a weird night. First I find out that I'm Max's perfect other half, now Angels sending thoughts again!_

"So what's Dylan?" I asked nervously.

Max spoke for the first time since Angel had spoken. "A test on me. Sent from the scientist's to see if I chose my 'perfect other half' over…" she glanced at Angel, who nodded. "my _real _perfect other half, which they now knew was… you."

"Oh. I see."

You could almost feel the awkward pulsing off of Max as she nodded.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

**_Sorry this chapter was so short, I thought it would be longer but...  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Percabethgirl2645, Fiona Siona, storycat12, MaxRideLover02, Onyx Shadows, and Fyrepheonix16 for reviewing! You guys rock.  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	36. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

MAX

I was super relieved by the fact that Fang wasn't wigging out on me after Angel explained everything to him. Of course, he was Mr. Rock after all.

He was looking at me and I was avoiding his eyes, my blush was gone (thank god) and now I was just trying to slow my heart rate down so no one would hear it.

Angel was beaming. Her mind reading was coming back to her rapidly. She'd sent Fang a thought clarifying that he was indeed my perfect other half, he'd failed in hiding the paling of his face.

The little girls eye's started drooping and I stood up.

"Come on Ange. How about we head back."

She yawned and nodded sleepily.

The three of us arrived back at the camp in minutes and I had to carry Angle into her tree and set her down because she was out the minute her little feet touched the ground.

I flew up into my own tree only to hear Fang come up next to me.

"Hey." I sighed.

He simply nodded, so we were back to quiet now.

I laughed and he looked at me confusedly. "This is insane." I laughed again.

"Yeah." Fangs chest rumbled with a chuckle and I smiled. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yup." I popped the "p". "You?"

"Oh yeah." He nodded and smirked.

That concluded our conversation about it and that worked for me.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me. With his warmth radiating off of him and into me, I was asleep within seconds.

* * *

><p>I woke up 50 minutes later and decided it was time to head to Arizona.<p>

The morning was suckish at best. It was already drizzling rain drops and thunderheads were rolling in from all around.

Flying was gonna be great. (Please not my sarcasm)

"Fang?" I whispered.

"Hm?" He mumbled back into my hair, his chin was resting on the top of my head and my cheek was leaning on his shoulder.

"Let's get the flock and your gang up. Time to head to Arizona." I murmured.

He sighed. "Are you gonna be okay."

"Me?" I rolled my eyes and awkwardly stood up on the tree branch, stumbling a bit, Fang grabbed my waist and steadied me. " Er… Thanks. And _of course_ I'll be okay! Am I Maximum Ride or not?" I smiled at him.

"Sure, sure." He smirked slightly.

"Now you get up with your black-wearing self!" I jumped out of the tree and landed softly at the base of the trunk. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. "Up and at em' flock!" I yelled.

Iggy hopped out of the tree and lightly landed on the ball's of his feet. "What's for Breakfast?" he asked, stretching.

"We could go to the store or something." I suggested.

He nodded. "Nudge and I can go."

"Kay Ig."

"Oh Nuuuuudge!" He sang into the tree he'd just come down from.

Nudge was mumbling something unintelligible and rolled out of the tree, like literally _rolled. _

She tumbled off of her branch until she realized she was falling, but she was too late. She started shrieking like a banshee.

Iggy laughed and held his arms out in front of him. Nudge landed, flailing and screaming, into them.

"NUDGE!" He yelled as she continued shrieking her head off.

She froze mid-scream and opened her eyes.

"Oh! Iggy, you… I… Ha ha… I thought I was gonna die! I mean I was having this dream that I was standing on top of a cliff and I went to jump off and fly, but then my wings folded in and I was all like 'somebodies gonna catch me because the flock's around me and they'll catch me like Fang always has to do for Max.' But then I woke up and YOU caught me! What's for breakfast? I hope it's like pancakes, or waffles, or just some orange juice would be nice! I haven't had orange juice in like FOREVER! I looooooove orange juice! OH! Are you making breakfast Iggy? I hope so! You're such an a-ma-zing cook! I hmgfhamd jmkdakadm lmfghts-" Nudge continued talking even though Iggy's hand was over her mouth.

"NUDGE!" The entire flock, which had just joined us, yelled.

She stopped talking and smiled silently. Iggy set her down foot by foot and tapped her nose. She smiled.

I felt totally lost.

* * *

><p>Iggy bought and cooked like thirty packs of bacon over the fire, and they were delicious!<p>

But let's not focus on food.

We put out the fire, gathered our stuff, and were flying towards Arizona by 4:00 in the morning.

The wind was roaring in the sky, not exactly the most ideal flying conditions, not to mention the thunderclouds that were rolling in ahead of us, and the rain that began to fall. I knew a storm was coming, but we had to keep moving.

"Hey Max?" Nudge called from behind me.

I looked back at her. "Yeah Nudge?"

"How far do we have before we get to— Where are we going in Arizona exactly?"

_Voice? Any Ideas? _I thought.

**Go to your mom's house. **It replied.

"Finally an answer." I sighed, the whole flock, Maya and Dylan included, gave me confused looks. "The voice says to go to my mom's house. We should be there in like 6 hours, but we'll need to stop for food and all that so..."

"Wait. She's at her _house_? She the freaking leader of the DG and she's just sitting back at her house, drinking a cup of coffee?" Iggy yelled.

"I highly doubt that Ig." I laughed.

"So then… what's she doing?"

I sighed. "I have no idea Iggy. Maybe rallying troops?"

"A convention?" Angel shot in.

"Public speech?" Gazzy asked.

"What if it's a trap?" Fang called from my right.

"I thought about that, and it darn well could be…" I sighed. "It probably is."

Fang nodded. "But we still need to go." He clarified.

"Yuppers." I grimaced then looked at Angel. "Angel. Try to listen closely for any… eraserboys or gen77 kid's minds."

"My reading isn't even fully back yet Max." She grimaced. "But I can sense you and the flocks thoughts, so I'll try to extend it to full on thought reading."

I smiled and thought to her. _That's my girl. _

_**Thanks Max. **_She thought at me and smiled, well, angelically.

A boom of thunder echoed through the sky.

I put up my mind blocks to keep the little mind-reader out of my head.

I was glad Angel's powers were coming back; she was devastated by the fact that she couldn't do anything but fly. She never showed or voiced this, but I could tell. Angel was the type of girl who needed to be special. She'd grown up with all of these crazy darn powers and they'd made her who she was, a sweet little girl sometimes and a devious little… never mind…. Now she was my little Angel again, I think getting Fang nearly killed, seeing me broken hearted because of her mistake, and then being kidnapped by the DG really sent the evil Angel away into the deepest pit of… a place.

Just so we're clear, I'm not mad at Angel even though she kinda ruined my love life, tried to take my place as leader more than once, and worked with the enemy several times, I wasn't mad at her. It seemed like she hated herself for doing all of it and that she really wants to fix it. However, I will be keeping a close eye on her for three reasons:

1. I can't afford to have her turn on us again

2. I'd go insane if she was kidnapped again

3. She's my baby (not literally of course) I have to protect her

This applies to the rest of the flock too, but they can fend for themselves a little more than Angel. I mean she's only seven!

I know, I know. I'm a little Paranoid.

Lightening flashed across the sky.

I sighed internally and looked at Fang, only to see he was already looking at me.

"We need a plan." He said.

"No dip Sherlock." I mumbled sarcastically, he smirked. "But you're right. We do need a plan."

"And I think I just might have one." Iggy called above the wind, rain, and thunder. "But it start's with us getting out of this freaking storm. Bird-kid and lightening _do not_ go well together."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello!<strong>_

_**I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry that it took me so long to update! I've been unbelievably busy and have had nooo all probably hate me.  
><strong>_

_**I made this chapter pretty long because you waited for so long...  
><strong>_

_**I know there's been a lot of fluff lately, but I'm gonna start having more of the plot unfold. I promise! I sorta started to in this chapter, only a little though.  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to Booklover72, , Fyrepheonix16, storycat12, anonymouse, Snowswirl66, marz loves jj, BlackVenom, Team Fang, Onyx Shadows, and Fiona Siona for the A-MA-ZING reviews that finally reached 200! How about we all bring that number up to 300 now? If you haven't reviewed yet, you know what to do! If you have, You know what to do! REVIEW!  
><strong>_

_**And just a quick question... Does any body know how to see the number of hits on a story? If you do, please tell me! I don't even know if it's possible...  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	37. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

IGGY

There are several things that I love in life:

1. Flying

2. Bombs

3. Building bombs

4. Blowing things up in general

5. Explosions of any sort

6. The flock

7. Cooking

8. Eating

9. Nudges chattiness

10. Finding new ways to stop Nudges chattiness

There aren't many things that I hate but I have a few:

1. Flying in the rain

2. Max taking my bombs away

3. Burning food

4. Starving

5. When Nudge doesn't talk

And one of those things was happening.

The rain poured down on us, showering our feathers and weighing us down.

"We need a plan." I heard Fang say.

"No dip Sherlock." Max muttered. "But you're right. We do need a plan."

And I had one.

"And I think I might just have one." I called to them from my second in command position. "But it starts with us getting out of this freaking storm. Bird-kids and lightening _do not_ go well together."

Now we were angling towards the ground. Nudge took my hand to guide me in the right direction as she rambled on.

"So Iggy what's you plan about? I hope it involves being all secretive and hiding out. I love doing that! I feel like a secret agent. You know, one of those people who wears all black with the sunglasses and the clicky things and the high tech gadgets. Sometimes I imagine what we'd all be like as secret agents. Max, Fang and you would probably be… like… field Agents and do all the fighting. Angel would be the genius who plans all of our missions. Gazzy would be the pyrotechnic and you'd also blow everything up with him. I'd hack all the computers and get us all of our info." She took a big breath; I could hear the air whistle into her lungs. "We could go all around the world. But we've already sort of done that. Woah! Iggy, there's an amazing waterfall down there! It's not very big, maybe a few feet high, but the water is falling in every direction, it's like a fountain but it's all mossy and gorgeous. Just gorgeous…" She trailed off in awe.

"I wish I could see it." I sighed truthfully in a non-whiney way.

"That's what I'm hear for! To help you see!" I heard the smile in her voice.

I grinned.

"Oh! We're landing Iggy!" She said.

I slowed my wings down and felt my feet touch the ground.

"C'mon!" Nudge tugged on my arm. "Let's get out of the rain! It's _freezing!_"

I laughed and sat down with her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders for a few seconds and warming her up.

"Thanks Iggy." She mumbled.

"My pleasure." I smiled.

"So Iggy." I heard Max say from in front of me. The rustle of fabric told me she was probably crossing her arms.

"I say we spread out, divide ourselves into groups of two and position ourselves around the outskirts of the ralley, that way we can get a view of every angle. If things get messy we come up with a meeting place and all that jazz." I said simply. "Divide—"

"And concur." Max finished. "I like it Ig. Let's give it a go."

"Sweet!" I slapped a high-five with Gazzy. "I was thinking that we wouldn't attack or anything though. Just listen to there insane antics and only interfere if needed."

"Sounds like a plan." Fang said.

We shook the water out of our wings.

"Wait? Who's going with who? What are the teams?" I heard Maya ask.

"I didn't really think of that…" I said, mentally face-palming.

"We'll figure it out as we go." Max said as a thunderclap echoed across the sky.

"But we are _not_ going back out until that storm is over." Nudge cried. "Right?"

There were murmured agreements.

A certain sound caught my ears. A beat of wings in the distance.

"Fine, we'll just sit tight for like an hour until the rain let's up." Max sighed as we all gathered wood for a fire and continued planning our stakeout.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I got this chapter done quicker than anticipated so I decided to make you all happy and update again. The next chapter probably won't be up until the weekend.  
><strong>_

_**It was Iggy's POV! It was kinda fun to write... haha. Sorry this one was so short,there wasn't much to put into it so...  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to Booklover72, Neimad Do'Urden, Readingcutie428, storycat12, Fyrepheonix16, Snowswirl66, Wholock's Worlock, and Fiona Siona for the amazing reviews and for answering my question! In case you all were wondering, I've already got 474 hits and 113 visitors in the past 7 DAYS! You guys are the best!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	38. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

FANG

Iggy's plan was simple, yet effective.

The grouping wouldn't be too difficult, at least not in my mind. All we needed to do was make pairings where each person played off of the others strengths.

Max and I, just for example. When we fight, it's like we're one person. It feels natural to fight with Max by my side. It feels natural to do anything with Max by my side. I feel whole…

Oh yeah. Cause she's my perfect other half…

Anyways, my ideas for the teams were this:

Max and myself for reasons beyond the fact that she's the love of my life (Don't tell her I said that)

Iggy and Nudge because she's the best at explaining things to him and they fight amazingly together

Angel and Gazzy because I know Gazzy wouldn't let Angel out of his sight again after what happened to her in Paris

Maya and Dylan because… well they were the only two left… and because they were kind of awkwardly getting along with each other

I voiced these opinions to Max as we were sitting by the fire waiting for the rain to let up as the flock caught up on sleep. We had a long day ahead of us.

"Those are probably our best bet." She nodded before lapsing into silence.

She was biting her bottom lip and staring at her ratty-checkered converse high-tops.

I sighed. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

She slowly raised her head. "No. I just don't want it to change 'us' and the way we act around each other. "

"My sentiments exactly." I nodded. "But I don't want to forget about it either."

She smiled. "It's like you read my mind."

She leaned her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arms around her. We could've sat like that for hours.

The rain finally let up and we all launched into the sky once more. The air was sticky and cold from the recent downpour, but it felt great to fly.

We had around five hours left in our flight to the Martinez house, or whatever was there now. I can tell that Max is worried about what she'll feel when she see's her mom up there on that huge stage leading the Doomsday Group.

**You're right, Fang. **Angel thought to me.** She's freaking out on the inside.**

_Angel. Sweetie, how many times have I told you stay out of my head?_ I smirked at her.

She sighed and didn't think anything to me again.

My gang was meeting us at the Arizona border and we were going to split up from there. It was to difficult trying to keep in touch when half of us are in the air and the others are flightless.

I flew in silence, as usual, listening to the beat of wings all around me and the flocks conversations. Not in a creepy way though.

Max was talking to Gazzy and Angel about some sort of strategy to keep the two of them out of the fight as much as possible. They responded with outraged cries, which Max ignored.

Maya was talking with Dylan on their position/stake out place. They seemed to be coming up with ideas that they both agreed on.

Iggy and Nudge were flying side by side with Nudge rambling on about how _amazing_ Iggy's plan had been and how it was tooootally going to work and bla, bla, bla.

The temperature was beginning to rise as we flew farther and farther South, but all that we were thinking about was that it meant that we were getting closer.

Everything was falling into place.

Then Iggy's face went hard as stone and he yelled "DIVE!" and took Nudge's hand, jerking her down with him.

Max practically threw Angel and Gazzy towards the ground and we tucked our wings in and all dropped like stones.

Then we all heard the high-pitched wiz of a bullet and Nudge let out a pained cry, her right wing stopping its flapping motions.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

**_I'm super sorry for the long wait. I had a bad case of writers block and I just couldn't get any ideas. That's also why it took me so long to unfold the plot and why there was so much action fluff in this story.  
><em>**

**_Sorry about that.  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Wholock's Worlock, Booklover72, BlackVenom, Emily, Snowswirl66, Fyrepheonix16, FlockAddict45, storycat12, MRLmaxrideluver, applelover45, marz loves jj, The Nameless Girl, Percabethgirl2645, and Onyx Shadows for the amazing reviews! I'm sorry to keep all of you waiting for so long and I hope that you still reveiw for this chapter.  
><em>**

**_Oh... And I'm posting another chapter right after this one because I felt so bad.  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	39. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

NUDGE

The crack of a gunshot cracked through the air as Iggy yanked me down.

But he was to late.

The bullet entered my right wing in an explosion of pain and my wing stopped moving.

In summary: I was dropping like a stone.

I let out a strangled scream as the intense pain cut off my voice. Everybody was yelling, but all I could do was feel the blood pouring out and onto my poor wing, stare up at the terrified flock, and fall towards the ground.

My head was spinning as I flapped my left wing and accidentally sent myself into a death spiral.

Then I blacked out.

"Nudge!" Somebody was yelling. "Nudge! C'mon, I _need _you to wake up! Stay with me Nudge."

I squealed in surprise as something wet and cold dabbed at a tender spot in my wing.

"Nudge?" I realized it was Iggy who was talking.

"Ig?" I mumbled.

He sighed in relief. "Yeah it's me. Angel and Gaz are above us watching for atackers."

"What's… What's going on?" I shifted slightly and felt a sharp jab of pain.

"You were shot out of the sky by a sniper." Iggy mumbled, looking away from me. "It's my fault, I should've pulled you out of the way sooner. I'm sorry—"

I cut him off. "Shut up." I rolled my eyes. "I'm rolling my eyes Ig."

He grimaced. "You could've died Nudge."

"But I didn't. Because _you_ saved me Iggy." I grabbed his chin and gently turned his face towards mine so that she was at least facing my direction. "Thank you." I murmured. "You saved my life."

Okay. That was the mushiest thing I have _ever _said. I was mentally going "Blah!"

"Don't thank me Nudge. Look at your wing."

I slowly turned my head to look at the bloody gash in my right wing. The chocolate feathers were dappled with my blood.

"See? Look what happened to you! You're wing could've been blown to bits because of me!" Iggy practically yelled.

I sat up. "Shut up Ig. Stop saying that. And the key word is _could've_, my wing _wasn't_ blown to bits _because of you_!"

He shrugged it off, still in denial.

The next thing I did was an insanely crazy, psychopathic, I-belong-in-a –bug-house move.

I leaned forward, turned Iggy's face to me once more, and gently kissed him. He froze in place for a second, and then slowly kissed me back.

Now, I have no idea what force on the freaking planet made me do that, but whatever it was, I was silently thanking it. Because I wouldn't miss out on this for the world.

I pulled back, mumbling. "Sorry…."

Iggy shook his head, a smile etched on his face as his blue eyes stared at me, as if he was seeing for the first time.

"Don't be sorry." He mumbled before beginning to patch up the hole in my wing.

We lapsed into silence as removed the bullet as gently as possible, bandaged the hole, and simply sat there… just thinking.

Iggy seemed to be contemplating something very deep inside of him.

Whereas I couldn't stop the butterflies in my stomach and the tingling in my lips.

* * *

><p><strong><em>See? I posted this one too!<em>**

**_I hope you liked it. Even though it was just as short as the last one... maybe shorter...  
><em>**

**_I hope you all don't hate me...  
><em>**

**_Please reveiw!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	40. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

MAX

We landed immediately after Iggy caught Nudge. He laid her gently down on the grass with her head resting in his lap.

"Here Ig." I handed him my backpack, which he took with shaking hands. "Use this to patch up her wing."

He nodded silently and started pawing through my backpack.

I turned to the rest of the flock, and Maya and Dylan. "We gotta get that sniper." I clapped my hands together. "Ange, Gaz, stay here with Iggy and Nudge." when the two kids sputtered angrily, Max said. "Please guys, Iggy's gonna be busy cleaning out Nudges wing, he doesn't need the added trouble of craning his ears to listen for attackers." They sighed and nodded glumly, wanting to come with us, but listening to Max. "The rest of us will go and find that sniper."

Maya, Dylan, Fang and I all hit the sky, ready to evade any bullets.

And sure enough, we all heard the wiz of a bullet and dropped ten feet to avoid it. The sniper thought he would hurt us, but he was just killing himself.

Because now we knew where he was.

I dove first with Fang right on my tail, Maya behind Fang, and Dylan behind her. Landing in a tree around a hundred feet from the snipers location.

Fang silently landed next to me, I put a hand on his shoulder and pressed a finger to my lips, telling him to wait and be quiet. He nodded.

Dylan and Maya landed on the branch above my head, I held up a hand, telling them to wait.

They both nodded and we I leaned forward on my branch so that I could get a good view of the next fifty yards of forest.

A twig snapped and my senses went into hyper drive.

Seconds later, a spider-eyed kid came sauntering into view, a fully loaded gun in his hand.

My plan was to wait until he got right below me and then rip the living crap out of him for shooting at my flock.

But, of course, that didn't happen.

My foot slipped from it position on the tree and I toppled forward. Fang caught me around the waist and pulled me into him, but not before the spider-eyed kid saw me.

He sprinted toward us, I loosened Fangs grip on me and dropped to the ground, putting four crossed fingers behind my back as I fell, telling Fang to surround the sniper from all sides.

I landed on my feet and steadied myself, hearing Fang, Dylan, and Maya spread their wings and fly to the left, right, and back of the spider-eyed kid. I was in front of him.

When he spoke, his voice was robotic and unnatural. "Maximum Ride, you are fighting a battle that will never be won. We live in a dying world and there is nothing you can do to save it."

"Right, right." I laughed. "And what makes you think that?"

"You are not right to save the world. You are to weak, you can't even handle a broken heart without breaking down for days."

Rage bubbled in the pit of my stomach, slowly reaching a boil and spreading through my body, until I lunged at the spider-eyed kid and smashed him into the ground.

"You." _Punch. "_Don't._" Punch _"Know." _Punch. "_Know._" Punch._ "ME!" I ground out, as blood ran down his face and his eyes shut.

"One… of…. many…." He mumbled before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Yeah? Well so am I!" I yelled, forgetting I wasn't alone. I sighed.

I got up from my position on the kids chest and shook my hand (which hurt a little) out.

"Let's go check on Nudge." I said nonchalantly as if I hadn't just beat the living crap out of somebody.

The rest of them silently obeyed and we flew back in silence.

I could, however, see a small smile playing at Fang's lips and I felt his deep, onyx eyes on the back of my head.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

**_Sorry for the long wait... and the short chappie. _**

**_Tomorrow is my B-day! So I thought I'd give you all a present by updating today. I know it's short, but it's still... good? I hope...  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Readingcutie428, BlackVenom, storycat12, marz loves jj, Adalyn333, Fiona Siona, Percabethgirl2645, Emily, Fyrepheonix16, and Snowswirl66 for the fnicking awesome reviews! You're all fabulous! haha  
><em>**

**_PLEASE REVIEW!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	41. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

FANG

As we flew back to the rest of the flock (Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge), I had one thought running through my head.

Never get Max mad.

Ever.

But she was amazing when she was mad. It was like she was a whole new Max instead of the girl who laughed at my jokes and wrestled with me. Yet, she was still the Max I loved.

Then again she was always the Max I loved so… forget that.

Seeing her beat the living tar out of that spider-eyed kid who'd shot Nudge was awesome. She was 70 pounds of bird-kid fury.

Nobody spoke as we flew back, and soon Angel and Gazzy's flying figures came into view.

Angel was giggling like a maniac and kept on glancing down at the trees below her, where Nudge and Iggy probably were. I saw Max catch this knew she was already planning on getting to the bottom of whatever was going on.

Gazzy just looked plain uncomfortable, like he wished he weren't in the position he was in currently.

Max flew over to Angel and began to interrogate the seven year old. "Ange. What's goin on?"

Angel calmed her giggling a bit, though you could still see her little body shaking with stifled laughs. "Oh. You'll find out soon enough." She glanced down again and burst into another fit of giggles.

Max followed Angel's line of sight and her face turned into a total picture of surprise.

She nearly dropped out of the sky.

"Holy CRAP!" She practically yelled. "What is going _on_ down there?"

I heard two surprised gasps and just couldn't resist flying over to Max to see what she was seeing.

Nudge and Iggy were sitting on the ground next to each other; Iggy's hand was on Nudge's injured wing, pressing a cold swab to the wound there, and their faces were just centimeters apart.

Both of them were tomato red with embarrassment.

It didn't take me long to connect the dots.

**OMG! THEY WERE KISSING FANG! NUDGE AND IGGY WERE **_**KISSING! **_Angel thought at me.

_Oh god. _I thought back. _Max is probably fuming. They are so in trouble!_

**Yeah. But it's so cute! It's like you and Max but in Iggy and Nudge form! I should come up with a cute couple name for them! Like Nidgy or Nudgy or Idgy or Niggy! **

_Angel, sweetie, you're turning into Nudge in brain/thought form. _I thought.

**Oh. Sorry. **Her thoughts paused for a second then she quickly thought at me in a rush of words. **Fang, please restrain Max. She's in a rage and her temper is quickly rising. Remove her from the situation so that she doesn't do anything rash. You're the only one who she'll listen to at this point. **Angel said… or thought.

_Jeez Ange, when you think you sound like a little genius. _I thought.

**Thank you. Oh crap! Max is gonna do something stupid! **Angel yelled in my head as Max dove toward the ground, ready to yell her head off at Nudge and Iggy.

I shot after her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her up and away from them so that she could cool down.

I drug her up above the clouds and out of earshot of the flock; we could be neither seen nor heard at this distance from the flock. Which was probably best knowing Max.

"Fang! Let go of me!" Max growled venomously.

"No." I replied.

"Fang!"

"No." I said again as I pulled her higher and higher up.

Then she promptly began to struggle vigorously against my hold for several minutes as I kept an iron grip on her waist with both my arms.

She was unsuccessful.

So then she proceeded to throw every curse word she knew at me for about ten minutes.

This didn't faze me one bit, but thank god I got her up high enough so that Angel couldn't hear her.

Because she was swearin like a sailor.

"Wow. You have quite the colorful vocabulary." I chuckled deeply as she grumbled angrily. "Too bad that won't make me let you go."

"Fang!" She whined.

"Max!" I mocked her in the same tone she'd used.

"Stop that." She mumbled.

"Stop that." I mumbled, now copying her because I knew she hated it. This would take her mind off of Nudge and Iggy.

"You're dumb." She growled.

"You're dumb."

"Stop!" She moaned.

"Stop!"

"You suck."

"You suck." I struggled not to burst out laughing

"Stop copying me!" She shrieked like a little kid.

"Stop copying me!"

"Okay this is really starting to freaking make me mad!" She yelled, glaring up at me.

I glared back at her, stifling my laughs. "Okay this is really starting to freaking make me mad."

"Fang." She raised her eyebrows.

"Fang." I raised my eyebrows.

"Stop it!" She sputtered.

"Stop it!"

"Fine!" She yelled, pouting and stopping her relentless struggle. "I give up."

I smiled in victory. "Are you still mad?"

She glared daggers at me. "No." She spat.

"Liar." I laughed.

"Oh my god, Fang! Let me go before I freaking kill you!" She yelled.

"Good luck with that." I smirked condescendingly.

She huffed angrily and was silent for a long time. Slowly, her muscles relaxed and her facial expression became almost… sad?

"What are you thinking about?" I asked quietly.

"Nudge and Iggy." Max sighed.

I remained silent.

"What should I do Fang?"

I shrugged. "Let them grow up. Be their own people. You can't hold onto them forever Max. Nudge is 13 and Iggy's 15. They're big kids now. Iggy's only two-ish years older than her, maybe less, I'm sure there are couples that have a bigger age difference than that."

"Jeez Fang, that was deep." She joked, and then sighed. "And I know but Nudge just seems so… young. I feel like she shouldn't be… in a relationship right now. Even if Iggy is only a little bit older than her." Max said awkwardly.

I laughed at that. "We were only a year older than her and we were 'in a relationship'. We were making out before we were fifteen Max."

I smiled as happy memories were filling my brain.

Max kissing me after I got my butt whapped by Ari on that dang beach in New York.

Me kissing Max in that cave while we were finding a place to live. Her flying away from me and me feeling empty, yet happy that I'd kissed her.

Max and me. Passionately making out in the Arizona dessert while discussing none other than Nudge and how she wanted to go to some special school for us. That time with Max was definitely on my top ten list of best things that have ever happened to me in my crazy, torturous, horrible, terrifying, wonderful, amazing, mutated life.

I remembered something. "Max."

"What?" She asked miserably.

"We'd both just turned fourteen when you kissed me on that beach in New York after I got the crap beat out of me. We don't even know when our birthday is, we could have been thirteen."

She sighed and face palmed. "You're never gonna let me live that down are you?"

"Nope." I popped the "p" when I said it.

She sighed. "Fine. You are right again Fang. Can you let me go? I have to go talk with them."

I grinned at her. "I'm proud of you." I laughed, kissing the top of her head without thinking.

She looked up at me in surprise and her cheeks tinted the lightest pink.

I quickly released her from my grip and she turned around to face me.

"You missed." She laughed.

I looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"You missed." She repeated, flying closer to me.

"Okay…" I raised my eyebrows.

She flew until her face was only half a foot from mine.

"You. Missed." She whispered quietly, craning her neck slightly and then stopping, she looked as if she was at war with herself.

Then, I took a big chance and threw all of my self-control out the window.

Putting both hands on Max's waist, I pulled her all the way to me and kissed her.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Did you like it? Did you like it?<em>**

**_I hope so.  
><em>**

**_It was longer! So yay! And there was a load of FAX and slight Niggy!  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Percabethgirl2645, Fiona Siona, storycat12, Fyrepheonix16, maximumrideluver-the original, Rawr Girlygamer77, Snowswirl66, Emily, and Onyx Shadows for the amazingly fantastic reviews and advice. Please keep on sending me your thoughts and ideas.  
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**_If you have an idea for the story, shoot me a review with it and I may put it in!  
><em>**

**_Sorry for the late update by the way.  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	42. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

MAX

I wanted to kiss Fang so bad it hurt. I craned my neck slightly leaning in, but stopped, battling with myself.

_Don't Max! He left you!_ The logical, heartbroken Max thought.

**No! Do it! You love him! You've always loved him and you know it! He's your perfect other half! He loves you and you love him just as much! **Shouted the stupid, girly, Fang-loving Max.

I froze in place, totally at war with my inner selves.

Then Fang grabbed my waist, pulled me into him, and kissed me.

Fang kissed me.

Let me repeat that:

FANG FREAKING KISSED ME!

My eyes went wide for a second and I gazed into his gorgeous obsidian eyes, lost in them. (Fang has amazing eyes, pitch black with golden flecks in them) His eyes were staring back at me, full of every emotion that was running through his head, were boring into mine, deciphering everything shooting through my mind, which was practically fried at this point.

Then, I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him back, running one hand through the long, black hair on the back of his head. Every sense in my body was sent hurtling into hyper drive, there was no turning back now.

His arms wrapped around me in a strong embrace and all I could think was that I wanted him to hold me tighter and never let me go.

No. It wasn't a make out session or anything even close to that. But it was a kiss. An amazing, surprising, mutant-freak kiss.

Okay. Maybe it was a little more than just a kiss.

This kiss made me remember all the times Fang and I'd had, all the amazing moments and all the sad ones, everything we'd been through together.

_Together._

That's what we'd always been. In the school, at the E-shaped house with Jeb, at the E-shaped house _without_ Jeb, on the run, in Antarctica with Bridged the red haired wonder, in the desert in Arizona (totally and completely together), in that cramped and claustrophobic submarine in Hawaii, in Africa helping the needy, and even when he left me and the flock.

Fang was a part of me that would never go away.

And I wasn't planning on letting him.

Like Angel said 'Fang and I have a bond that no distance or thing can break'.

I smiled against his lips and sighed contentedly.

Our lips moved in perfect sink and Fang put a hand on the back of my head a and pulled my face closer to his, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

I was in absolute heaven.

Until my brain started to get foggy from not breathing for a long time, but it was so worth it.

Fang slowly pulled away and ended the kiss, pressing his forehead against mine, both of us breathing heavy.

"I guess that throws the whole friend thing out the window." I laughed quietly as Fang's hand squeezed the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

God this boy was going to be the death of me.

"Mmmhmm." He breathed, running his nose along my cheek.

I tightened my grip on his neck and pulled myself closer to him, still flapping my wings to stay level with him.

He hugged me back, his strong arms encircled my waist and he held me tight.

"Fang?" I asked, feeling like an idiot.

"Yeah?"

"Don't leave yet." I blurted out, the words coming out in a jumble. "At least not until we get everything sorted out. I don't…" I paused, running my fingers through his oh-so familiar hair at the base of his neck. "I don't think I could take it." I whispered.

He burrowed his face into my neck and rocked back and forth for a couple seconds. "I'm not going anywhere." He mumbled. "You know, you smell nice." He said after a second.

I laughed and swatted the back of his head, letting go of him and feeling elated at the same time. "You're so weird." I rolled my eyes. "C'mon Chameleon." Fang scowled. "Lets go check on Nudge."

"Fine… Elf Girl." He smirked and I growled, low and dark.

_God I love him_. I thought as his smirk sent the butterflies in my stomach into a wild fluttering.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

**_Sorry that this was kinda short. I hope you all liked it!  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Black Venom, Fiona Siona, Snowswirl66, storycat12, everlastingwolflove, Fyrepheonix16, Percabethgirl2645, and Emily for the amazing reviews! Please keep REVIEWING! Can you guys try and get me to 270 reviews this week maybe? That would be fabulous! Please please please please please please please review! I want to break 300 reviews by the end of this story!  
><em>**

**_School ends for me this week. YAY!  
><em>**

**_So I'll be updating more frequently by Monday probably.  
><em>**

**_REVIEW PLEASE!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	43. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

MAX

Now that our little moment was just about over, Fang and I flew back down to the flock.

Nudge was sitting in the grass, listening to Angel jabbering about something 'adorable'. Her wing had a clean bandage on it and the bleeding was lessening,

Iggy was talking to Gazzy in a low voice and unconsciously rubbing circles in Nudges back.

Gazzy was blabbing enthusiastically to Iggy and practically bursting with anticipation.

Angel was giggling uncontrollably and clutching Nudges hand as she jabbered on and on about a very recent topic. I heard the words 'Max' 'Fang' and 'Adorable' all in the same sentence. This couldn't be good.

I landed in front of Iggy and Nudge; they both froze and went rigid, cringing ever so slightly.

All was silent.

And then Nudges dam of words broke. "OHMYGOSH MAX! PLEASE DON'T BE MAD! HE WAS CLEANING MY WING AND LIKE FREAKING OUT! I TOLD HIM TO SHUT UP BECAUSE HE WAS BEING DUMB AND THEN WE JUST KISSED! I—"

I clapped a hand over her mouth, because she was yelling her head off. "Nudge! Shh! I'm not mad at either of you. I'm sorry actually." My voice had shrunk down to a whisper by the last sentence. The entire flock froze at my apology.

Maximum Ride doesn't apologize.

Until now apparently.

"You guys are just… like…" I sighed. "You're getting too old." I laughed.

Nudge smiled. "Really?"

"Uh huh."

"Thanks Max." Iggy mumbled. "And I'm sorry… I was out of line…"

Nudges face fell.

I was so in over my head with these freaking emotions and crap.

First Iggy kisses Nudge.

Then Fang kisses me.

Then Iggy says he was out of line for kissing Nudge, because she's thirteen and he's fifteen.

And now Nudge is all upset.

"Max?" Angel's tiny voice from behind me pulled me out of my thoughts, she'd obviously been listening to my disconnected mind.

"Yeah sweetie?" I asked.

"I think we need a girl chat." She said knowingly, tapping her temple. "You, me, Nudge, and Maya."

I tried to keep my face from portraying my surprise. "Uh… okay. Let's just… go over there…" I pointed to a clearing a few yards away. "You boys chat amongst yourselves." I said with a wink as Nudge, Angel, a confused Maya, and I left Gazzy, Dylan, Iggy, and Fang alone.

We sat in a triangle, with Angel in my lap.

Nudge spoke first. "I… I have something to say."

The three of us nodded to urge her on.

"I'm in love with Iggy." Nudge blurted out. "I don't know how it happened. I thought he was like tooootally in love with Ella but then he kept on like talking to me and like I don't know. And when he got hurt and I was cleaning up his head and stuff… he mumbled my name while he was unconscious. I forgot to tell you guys that. And something clicked and now, here I am, in love with the bird kid who's practically my brother and I just don't know what to do." Nudge finished with a big breath.

Angel squealed happily. "Oh Nudge that's AMAZING! He thinks about you so much and— oh crap… I shouldn't have said that."

I laughed and squeezed Angel.

"But he regrets kissing me?" Nudge asked Angel.

"No ma'am. He doesn't regret it at all _he_ thinks that it was the best thing he's ever done— crap! I shouldn't have said that either!" The seven year old was beside herself with chattiness.

I put a hand over Angel's mouth. "How about now more voicing peoples thoughts for a little while?"

She nodded sadly and I smiled at her, kissing her head.

Maya sighed loudly and said. "I have something to say too."

Angel pried my hand off of her mouth. "Shoosh yeah you do!" Then she put my hand back on her mouth.

I looked at Maya for a second. "Go ahead."

She hesitated as she looked at me. "Well, can I ask a question first?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Suuuure."

"Do you love Dylan like he loves you?"

I gasped at this. "No!" I wished I could say yes to it. I honestly did. But I just couldn't bring myself to love Dylan. He was perfect for anyone but me. I knew it hurt him that I didn't love him back, but there was nothing I could do about my feelings. There's always been only one person for me. And I think you all know who I'm talking about.

"Okay! Just checking so that you don't _rip my head off._ Literally." Maya whisper-yelled. She paused, fighting an inner battle.

"Just say it Maya." Angel prodded, knowing what Maya was thinking. "Nobody is going to be mad at you. Trust me, I checked."

Maya took a big breath. "I like Dylan. A lot."

I snorted. "No dip! I can totally tell!" I bit my cheek to stop from laughing at her horrified expression.

I wonder if that's what I look like when I'm horrified at something.

**That's exactly what you look like.** Angel thought at me.

I smiled.

I looked back at Maya. "You two have been awkwardly flirting for the past two weeks since you came! The poor boy doesn't know what to think! Love me because he's _programmed _to, or fall for you because you're… I don't know—"

"You." Maya finished for me. "He's confused because I'm like you."

I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. "That was the exact _opposite_ of what I was going to say! I was going to say that he's confused because he's programmed for me, but he's battling with himself to fall for you because you two just… fit." I finished in a haze. I redirected my attention to Angel. "Angel?"

I finished my question to her in thought form.

_Do you think that it's possible that Dylan and Maya could be made for each other? _I asked her.

**Yes.**She thought back. **Look at it this way. Dylan was made to love you. Maya was made to **be**you. Therefore, Dylan can love Maya because, **technically**, Maya is **you.

That's exactly what I'd been thinking in the back of my head for the past two weeks, I just hadn't voiced any of it.

"WILL ONE OF YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR LITTLE MIND CONVERSATION TO US?" Nudge yelled.

Angel explained everything in a rush. "Dylan was made for Max. Maya was made to be Max. No offense Maya."(Maya responded with a quick "None taken") "Therefore, Dylan can love Maya because, technically, Maya is Max. Again… no offense Maya."

Maya and Nudges mouths were gaping open.

"Trying to catch flies?" I asked them with a smirk, they both shut there mouths quickly.

"Well then what happens with Max?" Maya asked Angel.

"Fang is her other half." Angel said as she played with a strand of grass.

"WHAT?" Nudge yelled again. "What are you talking about?"

"Nudge! Chill out and we'll explain everything!" I yelled back, she immediately shut her mouth.

Angel and I took turns explaining everything from Iggy and Fang to Dylan and Maya.

When our little story time ended, the two of them were left in complete awe.

I broke the silence by saying. "Welcome back to the bird-kid soap opera. Today's episode will be focusing in on the drama of Dylan's confusion, Maya and Nudges _true_ feelings, and Max's perfect other half."

The four of us burst out laughing at that. Even Maya had tears streaming down her face from laughing so hard. For the first time ever, it felt like she was one of us, instead of an outsider from a different gang.

I smiled to myself.

"What a nice thought Max." Angel smiled up at me and patted my cheek.

I smiled, glad that the awkwardness between me an Maya was possibly over.

And then the four of us could hear loud voices coming from the boys behind us.

_Craaaaaaap. _I thought as I slid Angel off my lap, stood up, and dashed toward the clearing in one fluid motion.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello party people! Haha<em>**

**_I know this was an awkward and un-Max-ish chapter.  
><em>**

**_Quick question: What does SYOC, OC, and OCC or OOC stand for? If you know please tell me! I'm kinda clueless.  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Percabethgirl2645, anon, RandomReader15, Fiona Siona, Fyrepheonix16, Black Venom, Cream cheese, applelover45, Rawr2012, Emily, Adalyn333, and everlastingwolflove for the amazing reviews!  
><em>**

**_PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	44. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

FANG

Max leaving Dylan, Iggy, Gazzy, and I wasn't a very good idea to begin with.

It started out fine. Iggy and Gazzy began rapidly describing their new bomb idea to us.

And then Gazzy decided to change the subject and say. "Fang. Angel was saying something to Nudge about you and Max kissing? Was she lying or…?" He trailed off.

I coughed. "Uh. Yeah, Gaz. I kissed her." I grinned at the ground, remembering Max and I's kiss. I still don't know what made me do it, but I definitely don't regret it. It felt like it used to, for once.

Iggy smiled and patted me on the back.

Gazzy blushed and grinned.

Nobody was prepared for Dylan's reaction.

Okay, maybe I was.

He sprang to his feet and got right in my face. We were the same height, but he probably weighed around 120 pounds to my 70. Dylan was cloned from a bulky human; therefore he wouldn't be as light as the rest of us.

I stepped away from him and leaned against a tree, crossing my arms, pressing my shoulder into the rough bark and raising my eyebrows at him.

"You have no right!" He yelled, lunging at me and knocking me to the ground. I quickly recoiled and sprang to my feet as he lunged forward again.

"What are you talking about?" I yelled, dodging his second attack and watching him summersault and get back to his feet.

I crouched down in attack mode and could faintly hear Iggy yelling about what was going on.

"You just can't leave her alone can you?" Dylan yelled. "You don't deserve her and you know it! But you still come _crawling_ back and pull a stunt like that. At least _I_ actually care about her—"

I cut him off. "In that programmed little mind of yours! It's called _love _Dylan. And that's something that you'll never understand." I waved a hand and turned my back on him.

Then, with an enraged growl, he tackled me from behind and sat on me. I couldn't get up because he was almost twice my weight. He brought his fist down on my face and my head snapped to the side.

I pulled my arms up to block my head from the blows; I'd had enough concussions already.

I saw Iggy and Gazzy prying at his shoulders, and yelling at both us of to stop. Their efforts were futile, we were both too mad.

"You." _Punch. _"Don't." _Punch. _"Know." _Punch. _"Me!" He ground out, punching me with each word.

"And you don't know me!" I yelled, shoving him off of me and jumping back to my feet.

I jumped out of the way of another attack and this time I tackled him. I kept his face pressed into the grass.

"You don't know what I've been through!" He growled. "I spent the first eight months of my _life_ stuck in a lab with no access to the outside world!"

"Oh yeah?" I yelled. "And what happened in those eight months?" Now I was mad. "Max Iggy and I spent the first EIGHT YEARS in the school, being tortured, tested, and scarred beyond repair. And the rest of the flock didn't have it easy either. Don't act like your life sucked when the rest of ours was even worse!"

I was shaking with pure rage. Dylan was frozen with surprise. I guess he didn't know as much as he thought he did.

As I pondered this, Dylan threw me off of him and I stumbled back to my feet, wiping blood off my face.

"I. Love. Her." Dylan snarled through clenched teeth as we rammed into each other. I held his fists away from my face.

"So. Do. I!" I shoved him away from me and took a couple steps back.

He lunged again, knocking the breath out of me and slamming me on my back.

"Just leave before you cause her _more_ damage!" He yelled, shoving me further into the ground.

I threw him off me again and recoiled, shoving my foot off a tree and extending my wings, soaring towards him and nailing him in the gut.

My plan wasn't to kill him, or even fatally injure. This was simply a fight that I did not intend to loose.

I pinned his arms to his sides and kneed him in the gut, he sputtered and slammed his head into mine.

My vision blurred, god that guy could hit hard.

I shook my head and cleared my vision, standing up quickly.

Dylan lunged for me again.

"You need to back off!"

I punched him in the face and jabbed an uppercut into his lower left jaw. "And so do you!"

"Let's end this." Dylan snarled.

"No!" Both our head's snapped back as Max shoved us apart and stood between us.

She put a hand on my chest, sending a calming effect throughout my entire body.

"Stop fighting!" She yelled. "If you kill each other, I swear I will bring you back to life and kill you again."

She muttered something incoherent and shoved us even further apart and marched away, swearing under her breath. She so beautiful when she's mad.

I followed her without another look at Dylan.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello Amigos!<em>**

**_OHMYGOSH Thank you all so much for all of the reviews! I got 18 reveiws! !  
><em>**

**_Okay I'm done! haha  
><em>**

**_Thank you so much to Readingcutie428, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, RandomReader15, Better than Revenge, storycat12, BlackVenom, everlastingwolflove, MaxRideLuver02, Fiona Siona, Nola96, Percabethgirl2645, Fyrepheonix16, , maximumride1, Booklover72, and Jwbb2000 for the FANTABULOUS reviews!  
><em>**

**_I hope you liked this chapter!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	45. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

MAX

I am so sick of Fang and Dylan constantly being at each other's throats. I get it, Dylan's my 'perfect other half', he's _programmed _to love me, but just because Fang and I kissed doesn't mean that he needs to get all-angry and decide to attempt to beat up Fang.

"I'm going for a fly guys." I said to the flock, they nodded and I opened my wings, propelling myself skyward.

I was maybe a mile away from our campsite when I heard him.

"Max!" Dylan yelled from behind me. "Max wait!"

I whirled around.

"_What?_" I yelled.

Instead of responding, Dylan grabbed me by the arm and smashed his lips against mine.

I froze like a deer caught in cars headlights, feeling his lips moving against my frozen ones.

I instinctively shoved him away.

"What the heck was that?" I screamed.

Dylan looked at me like I was mentally confused. "Well… I kissed you, Max."

"No dip, Sherlock!"

"What's the problem? Fang kissed you and you didn't seem to have a problem with it!" Dylan yelled back.

"Yeah. Fang kissed me, what's it to you?" I shouted.

"_What's it TO ME?_" Dylan yelled. "Max. I love you! What part of that do you not understand?"

I shook my head. "You're not my perfect other half Dylan."

"Yes I am! I—"

"No your not!" I took a deep breath. "Fang is."

Dylan froze, his eyes wide as he calculated my expression to see if I was lying. He realized that I wasn't and his eyes widened even more, he started shaking his head slowly.

"You're wrong Max." Dylan murmured. "You'll see. I'll prove it to you."

"I don't think I will Dylan."

"I'll wait Max." Dylan whispered. "I'll wait for you."

"Dylan!" I groaned, knowing that I had to say this. "I grew up with Fang, I fought with him, I loved him. He _is_ my perfect other half. Fang was made _for me_."

"No he wasn't Max. I was—"

"Will you STOP saying that?" I yelled. "I love Fang. I love him more than anything else in the world. He's my best friend… he's my everything, Dylan. Do you understand that?"

"Stop saying that! I'm perfect for you Max! I love you!"

"You don't know what love is. You've been alive for less than a year. There is no possible way that you could really and truly love me, Dylan."

Dylan glared at nothing in particular. "I'll make you see, Max." He murmured. "I'll make you see."

I started to speak. "Dylan—"

But then his lips were on mine again as he tried to make my lips respond to his.

I turned still as a statue, tucked my wings in and fell away from him, then I rocketed back towards the flock, he didn't have a chance of keeping up.

I landed in the flocks clearing in seconds, muttering incoherently to myself.

"He's just confused Max. He doesn't believe you yet." Angel said, coming up and taking my hand.

Fang grabbed my other hand and pulled Angel and I away from the rest of the flock.

"What happened? I was about to follow you guys but I decided you'd kill me if I did. So…"

"Well… I told him you were my perfect other half and whatnot. He didn't believe me, and then to try and prove that I belonged with him, he kissed me." I said with a shrug.

Fang's jaw tightened and he didn't say anything.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Fang, chill. Don't freak out." I tipped his chin up and looked him in the eyes, he calmed instantly.

"Fang." Angel said nervously. "Dylan doesn't understand love… yet. He doesn't understand that you two were made for each other. All he knows is that he's been programmed to have feelings for Max." She nodded knowingly.

Fang took a breath and nodded.

I grabbed him by the hand and tugged Angel and Fang back to the flock. I kept a firm grasp on Fang's hand, just in case he decided to snap Dylan's neck or something. He rolled his eyes at me.

"We need to move guys, we still have a ways to go before we get to my moms house. Nudge, can you fly?" I asked.

"I think I can handle it…" Nudge smiled. "But I'm not really sure. I don't know any kind of medical things or doctor like stuff… I guess I'd ask Iggy instead of me, because he knows about all of that stuff. I mean, my wing feels _fine_ but who really knows? I sure as heck don't! There are a lot of things that I don't know… like how to—"

Iggy put a hand over her mouth and smirked. "She's fine to fly. The wound wasn't that deep; it's already practically healed. Thank god for mutant rapid healing!"

"Awesome. Let's go." I extended my wings as we got into formation.

Fang took his place on my right, Iggy on my left. Nudge was behind Iggy in third command and Gazzy was behind Fang in fourth. Angel flew in between all of us, with Dylan and Maya behind her so that she was protected from all sides.

We hit the sky's with a new-found energy and flew for hours and hours, until we came to the rough area of my mom's house.

And what we saw made my breathing hitch and my heart stop.

* * *

><p><strong><em>OHMYGOSH! Hello!<em>**

**_I know that I kind of dropped off the map for a while, and I'm really really sorry about that... and about the shortness of the chapter. I hope you liked it though! :D  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Fiona Siona, storycat12, MaxAndFangForEverAndEver, BlackVenom, Fyrepheonix16, everlastingwolflove, fax, Geust, RandomReader15, Percabethgirl2645, Booklover72, Atomic Devil, jaz, MaxRideLuver02, and Guest for the AMAZING REVIEWS! Please keep reveiwing this story! Please, please, please, please review!  
><em>**

**_THANK YOU SOOO SOOO SOOO MUCH FOR GETTING THIS STORY TO 300 REVIEWS! I love you all! In a non awkward way... :)  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	46. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

FANG  
>Smoke was everywhere; fires were smoldering thousands of feet below in what looked like a modern concentration camp.<p>

Barbed wire fences surrounded the vast area that used to be Dr. Martinez's town. Now all that was left of it was crumbled buildings, smoldering fires, and what looked like thousands of starving, brain-dead people.

A huge stadium sat in the middle of the turmoil.

Max gasped next to me and I tapped her hand gently, she snapped her head to the side to look at me, her face severe, then it softened when she realized it was me.

"What's the plan?" I asked almost silently.

She sighed. "We're gonna do what Iggy thought of. Divide and concur."

I nodded.

Max swore quietly and rose swiftly, knowing that eraserboys would see us in seconds. "Get under cloud cover guys! There's thousands of eraserboys down there." She whisper-yelled to all of us.

Once we were out of sight in the clouds, Max stopped.

"Okay. You know what to do." She whispered quickly. "But just incase you all somehow forgot, the groups are as follows. Angel and Gazzy, Nudge and Iggy, Dylan and Maya, and me and Fang."

Angel grabbed Gazzy's hand and smiled at Max, who winked in return.

Nudge reached for Iggy's hand and pulled him over to her.

Maya flew over to Dylan and I swear I saw Max nod at her encouragingly.

I will never understand the female brain.

Anyways… Max nodded again and sighed. "Okay, Iggy and Nudge will take the entrance, once they get there, they'll light off a small bomb to blow up the doors to let out any un-brainwashed people. Angel and Gazzy, once you hear or see the first explosion, move in and drop a bomb on the weapons hold, it shouldn't be to hard to find and once you've done it, I want you two to get yourselves out of there."

"No way!" Gazzy sputtered.

"Max. I can help! I _want_ to help." Angel cried.

"I know guys. But I just can't risk losing you. Trust me on this one, this is a hard fight even for me and I do not want you guys to be in the middle of it." Max was practically begging now. "Please guys. I really need you to do this for me."

Angel gave Max her signature bambi-eyes. "Max. Please! I want to fight next to you guys!"

"Angel!" Max cried, grasping Angel's shoulders gently but pleadingly. "I'm literally begging you to stay out of this. Trust me, you'll be helping us way more than you think."

"How?" Angel sobbed.

"You're dropping a freaking bomb on the weapons hold! How are they supposed to fight us with _NO FREAKING WEAPONS_?" Max whisper-yelled. "And, you won't be flying far away, you'll be able to control minds from your distance. I promise, sweetie."

Angel nodded. "Okay. I'll do it. Where are we going?"

Max looked at the entire flock and said. "We're all going to be separated in the fight and in our groups. So, after the fight is over, our meeting place will be the tip of lake mead." I took a breath. "At the cave where we flew with the hawks."

I felt Max take my hand and pull me against his side.

The flock nodded and I put the hand Max was holding in the middle of our little circle, stacking our fists. The entire flock followed suit and looked at her expectantly.

"Let's kick some butt." Max said. "Be safe, be quick, and be careful."

"Let's do this." Angel smiled confidently.

We released our hands and, with one more look at each one another, went off into our separate directions.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hey!<em>**

**_Ohmygosh I feel so so so so so terrible for dropping off the map for so long and about the shortness of this chapter.  
><em>**

**_THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! ALL OF YOU GUYS ARE THE BESTEST PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!  
><em>**

**_Thanks to Fyrepheonix16, MaxAndFangForEverAndEver, BlackVenom, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, Fiona Siona, Nola96, storycat12, guest, MaxRideLuver02, everlastingwolflove, marz loves jj, guest, and Booksrule88 for all of the super duper fantastically amazing reviews that made me feel so so so so so happy!  
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**_Please please please please please please please REVIEW! I love you guys, again in a non weird way!  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
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**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	47. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

MAX

Fang and I headed to the west end of the DG convention… or whatever it's called. We hovered hundreds of feet above the fence, waiting for the first explosion.

"Max, they'll be okay." Fang whispered. "They know what to do."

I nodded. "Do you think Angel's going to listen to me?" I asked. "Do you think she'll leave the fight?"

"I think that Gazzy will make her leave the fight." He said.

I took a shaky breath as he draped his arm over my shoulders and I wrapped mine behind his back with my head on his shoulder, we enjoyed this little moment for less than a minute when a fire erupted at the entrance on the far side of the convention and a BOOM sounded across the stadium. A commotion was forming at the blasted apart gates and faint cheers and screams could be heard, more smoke hit the already blackened sky.

I looked at Fang and we unwound from each other, taking hands and waiting for the second explosion caused by Angel and Gazzy.

BOOM! POP! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The weapons department exploded with several sounds as all the bullets and artillery was blown to bits.

_Angel. You promised me. _I thought to her. _Don't let me down. Get out of here._

**I am Max. Don't worry, Gazzy's with me we're just about to get under cloud cover. **She thought at me soothingly. **I'll do what I can from the hawk cave and we'll see you there when it's done. I believe in you Max, I always will.**

I sighed and looked at the clouds above the smoke emanating from the weapons building. I could faintly make out two small, winged figures disappearing into the clouds.

"She listened to me, Fang." I whispered shakily.

"I know she did." Fang murmured.

I nodded. "Let's do this."

Fang and I made our way into the center as planned, dropping out from the clouds and going all the way down to the ground.

I whirled around so that Fang and I were back to back, each of us covering the others blind side.

There were eraserboys everywhere. They seemed to be momentarily stunned by the extreme explosions and the fact that they were now rendered weaponless.

"Go!" I yelled to the people bustling around me as the eraserboys closed in on Fang and I. "Go! Get out of here!"

The people froze and stared at us, seeing my wings.

"GET YOUR FREAKING BUTTS OUT OF THIS FREAKING PRISON AND RUN!" I yelled, causing a quick restart in motion, the people were running now.

"Max, how many are there on your side?" Fang murmured.

I glanced at the eraserboys, who were snarling and clicking their claws to together. "There are at least fifteen coming at me, maybe forty feet away. The crowds are slowing them down." I murmured back to him. "They've cleared a path for themselves now and are around twenty feet."

I spun around while I still had the chance, spinning Fang to face me.

I put my hands around his neck and sent my words out in a rush. "Fang. I love you. I've always loved you. I love you more than anything else in the world and I can't imagine life without you. You're my best friend, my brother, my wingman, my boy friend, my _everything_. And no matter what happens today or tomorrow or any other day for the rest of our lives I will love you."

"Maximum Ride, I will love you until the day I die and even after that." Fang breathed, taking my face in his hands and kissing me.

I knew that this couldn't possibly last for more than a second so I pulled myself closer to him and tilted my head to deepen the kiss.

And then of course it had to end violently.

"Sorry to break up the moment love-birds." I hairy, clawed fist landed on my shoulder and pulled me away from Fang, locking an arm around my neck. "But I'd like to get back to what we were doing earlier."

"And what... is that?" I spat, struggling for air and freedom as the hairy arm pressed against my throat. "Destroying peoples minds and turning them against the rest of the world?"

"Smart girl." The beast purred. "And feisty," oh, he so shouldn't have said that, Fangs going to go all types of crazy on their butts, "I like that."

"Don't you _dare_ touch her!" Fang yelled, jamming an elbow into the ribs of the eraserboys holding him and snapping both his legs out to the right and left side, catching them in the gut and doubling them over.

Fang smashed his knee into both of their faces and wiped some blood from his nose, turning to face the eraserboys holding me.

"So boys," Fang murmured darkly, a cold glare on his face, "you feeling lucky?"

As Fang finished talking, a silence settled over the beasts, I took my opportunity and smashed the heel of my foot into the toes of my captivator.

He was momentarily surprised so I turned my palms towards the ground, pushed my hands down, and threw my hips back, easily breaking his grip. Then I whirled around a punched him square in the nose, shoving it into his brains and watching him crumbled to the ground.

"Max! I got your back!" Fang yelled as he bashed in an eraserboys face and ran over to me, spinning so that his back was against mine.

"And I've got yours!" I yelled back to him, bracing my back next to his and swing my leg up to kick an eraserboy in the jaw, snapping his head back with a deafening crack.

"Take." _Punch_. "That." _Punch_. "You." _Punch_. "Overgrown." _Punch_. "Dog-bird." _Crunch. _The beast's head snapped to the side as I delivered the fatal blow that broke his neck.

I shook my hand out, nailing two eraserboys at once with a kick to their ribs.

I was about to shout to Fang that we needed back up when half of the eraserboys just keeled over sideways without even being touched. I smiled to myself and glanced at Fang.

Angel was helping us.

Fang and I linked arms to finish the rest of them off. He twirled me in a circle and I stuck my legs out to the height of an average eraserboy, feeling my feet hit all of their faces.

Once my feet stopped running into them, Fang set me on my feet and we both looked around.

Knocked out eraserboys lay in a broken spiral around us, some breathing raggedly and others not breathing at all. An eraserboy a few feet away from me stirred, snarled, and began to wildly scramble to his feet.

I calmly walked over to him, positioned my feet on the side of his head, raised my right foot, and brought it down as hard as I possibly could on his face. Knocking him out once and for all.

I walked back to Fang.

"Let's go check out the stage, the leaders probably there trying to calm the chaos." I murmured to him.

Fang nodded, took my hand, and we ran together through the wreckage, stopping every so often to life heavy things off of trapped people who'd been caught under exploding pieces of buildings.

We finally reached the stage and I silently landed on top of it.

"Max." I peaceful female voice voice murmured from behind me. "How wonderful it is to see you."

Fang stiffened next to me.

I whirled around and looked straight into the eyes of a woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin.

I was looking into the eyes of my mother.

And not only was she one of them.

But she was there new leader.

"Mom?" I gasped.

"Hello dear." She sang. "I've missed you my dear."

She slowly walked towards me a hand out stretched.

"MAX!" The out of breath voice of Nudge came from behind me.

I turned to face her.

"Max, wha—" Nudge gasped. "But, she's brainwashed! Max be careful."

I nodded silently at her.

"Max." Iggy said. "We need to light the third bomb of while the eraserboys are still out cold." He mouthed at me.

"No!" I whispered at him and turned back around.

My mother was still smiling placidly at me. "Max, there are some people who would like to see you." She raised a hand and motioned with her fingers to the curtains behind her.

Two people walked through the curtain and I stifled my gasp.

The brain-dead people were Ella and Jeb.

"Maximum." Jeb smiled with wide eyes. "Are you really going to blow this haven up? With your only family members inside of it?"

"Max. Don't destroy us." Ella chimed. "We're your family. How could you destroy us?"

"Max." Fang whispered in my ear so that only I could hear. "We have to blow this joint soon or we'll have to start all over again."

I shook my head and turned towards my flock with glazed eyes. "I'm sorry guys. I can't blow them up. They're my family and I'm staying with them." I reached out and took my mothers hand. "I choose the One Light."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey!<strong>_

_**I'm so sorry that I disappeared for like ever and all that crap. I had a serious case of writers block and I didn't want to let you guys down by giving you a crappy chapter so I just kind of spent the past three-ish weeks attempting to come up with ideas!  
><strong>_

_**I hope you guys liked this chapter and it's length. :) Sorry about the cliff hanger, I promise to update tomorrow because I already have the next two chapters written.  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to BooksRule88, Nola96, Fiona Siona, BlackVenom, Percabethgirl2645, marz loves jj, Booklover72, Guest, Lunara7, FaxnessFan, Guest, MaximumRideFan23, and guys are honestly just fantastic. Please keep reviewing and reading. If you read this, I'm BEGGING YOU TO REVIEW! I have been working for the entire week on this chapter and it would me so much if you guys would review! Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase?  
><strong>_

_**Ohmygod! Nevermore comes out TOMORROW! Are you guys excited? I know I'm excited! I hope it's good!  
><strong>_

_**Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and I promise to update TWICE tomorrow.  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	48. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

FANG

I gasped. "Max, you can't be serious. Come on! Think this through!"

"Max! I thought _we_ were your family! We've been together since _birth_. Please Max! This isn't you!" Nudge sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

Iggy was beyond words, his face blank and his eyes down cast as he cradled Nudge.

Max shook her head. "I choose the one light." She repeated, turning to her mother.

Valencia squeezed her daughter's hand and snapped her fingers. "Chain them up." She snapped, pointing to us.

From behind the curtain, four mutants came rushing out and snapped handcuffs on Nudge, Iggy, and I's wrist's.

"Take them to the containment unit!" Jeb drawled, waving a hand at us.

I looked up at Max as the mutants dragged me off the stage. Words escaped me and all I could do was stare at her, looking into those eyes that I loved.

And expression flashed across Max's face for less than a split second, her eyes widening and her mouth twitching to the side. In our code we'd made up at the school, that meant, "Trust me". Then her face glazed over again and she turned away from me, sticking a hand behind her back and putting down her pointer, middle and pinky fingers. This meant, "wait".

I blinked twice to show her I understood and kept my face expressionless.

This is why I love Max so much, because she just so god darn clever.

I let the mutants tug me away and roughly toss me into a barred and grimy cage next to Nudge and Iggy.

"How c—could she d—do this to us?" Nudge sobbed, her head resting on Iggy's shoulder.

Iggy just shook his head. "They must have messed with her head. She must not be acting of her own accord."

"But she sounded so… so sincere." Nudge wailed. "I don't want to believe it. I really don't. Max is the closest thing I have to a mom. No she _is_ my mom. And… now she's… what? A traitor?" Nudge sniffled. "It just doesn't make sense."

As this conversation was going on, I was leaning against the bars of the cell, listening for the fading footsteps of the mutants, until I couldn't hear them anymore.

I turned to the two depressed flock members.

"Okay both of you shut up." I murmured. "She didn't betray us. She signed me to trust her and wait. We just need to sit tight and trust her."

Nudge's jaw dropped. "Oh good! I knew Max wasn't a traitor I—" Nudge was practically yelling so Iggy clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Nudge!" He whispered. "It's awesome that Max didn't betray us but we can't go yelling it to the world."

Nudge nodded, removing his hand and whispering. "Right. Sorry, I'll shut up now."

I nodded and sat down in the corner of the cell near the door, settling down to wait for Max.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello!<strong>_

_**So don't hate me for having this chapter be so short! It's important to the plot but it's just not very lengthy! I promise to update in about an hour with the next chapter that will be much, much longer! I won't let you guys down!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to marz loves jj, Nola96, iLoOoVeOrAnGe, BooksRule88, Ninja Ride, FreedomWriter15, and EJB for the reviews! Please KEEP ON REVIEWING!  
><strong>_

_**So I'm currently reading NEVERMORE and it is so good! I hope that you guys read it soon!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	49. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

MAX

"Come Max, dear." My mom sang dazedly, pulling me down the hallway with Ella hanging on my arm and Jeb with a hand on my shoulder. "Its time for you to see your master."

"I must see my master." I repeated monotonously.

She stopped at a door and quietly opened it.

In the middle of a dark room sat a glowing machine. It purred and whispered unrecognizable words that seemed to penetrate deep into my brain. There was a bright ball of light in the center of the cylindrical machine and it was dimming and brightening of its own accord. Glancing around, at the room around it, I realized that there was no external power source powering the machine, there were no openings in the side to put batteries in either.

"Master." Jeb, Mom, and Ella all said in unison, dropping to their knees and bowing. "All hail the One Light."

I followed suit, dropping to my knees and bowing. "Master." I sang. "All hail the One Light."

The murmurs started getting louder in my head, my brain was beginning to feel fuzzy.

_**Don't listen to it Max. **_My voice shouted in my head. _**Block it out. **_

I started thinking about everything but the murmurs, putting up the mental blocks that I used against Angel and letting my mind drift to my flock instead of thinking about the entrancing murmurs.

I prayed to god that Angel and Gazzy had gotten out and were almost at the hawk cave.

I hoped that Fang and Nudge and Iggy had understood me and were waiting for me to make my move and plan the downfall of the One Light and the DG instead of believing that I was betraying them.

A hand went on my shoulder.

"Do you hear it Max?" Jeb whispered, obviously enchanted. "The One Light is singing to you, reaching out to you. Listen to your master." He shoved me forward.

"I hear them." I whispered, my eyes widening. "I hear my master."

"Good." Ella chanted excitedly. "He is speaking to you, let him enter your mind Max and ensnare your senses."

Okay. These people were totally starting to freak me out. I decided it was time to make my move.

I whirled around and faced Jeb, hitting his hand off of my shoulder and chopping down on his shoulder blade, knocking him out by hitting a pressure point or something like that…

"What are you doing Maximum?" My mom cried. "How dare you strike down one of us? We are the same as you. We are followers of the one light!"

Her and Ella rushed at me from both sides, I snapped out my legs and knocked them both into opposite walls, knocking them out, too.

They wouldn't be out for long because I didn't hit them super hard because I didn't want to kill them so…

Anyways, I dug through all of their pockets until I found a key ring with four small keys on it and ran out the door, slamming it shut behind me and sprinting down and out of the hallway, into the open field, heading in the direction I'd seen my flock being taken away in.

I was full out sprinting through the wreckage when the beat of wings coming closer and closer. I whirled around to see Maya and Dylan, hand in hand, landing behind me.

"Max! What happened?" Dylan asked.

"Where are the others?" Maya also asked.

"I'll explain later and I'm going to get them now." I called to them, answering both of their questions. "You guys got my back?"

They nodded silently and followed me as I dashed along the mud-covered ground and made a sharp turn into a dark and dank set of stairs that had to be the… dungeon? God these people were barbaric.

I slipped my way down the grimy stairs and finally landed on level ground, seeing a row of cells along the wall to my right and left.

Several scared faces pressed up against the bars on both sides of me.

"Who are you?" A little girl whispered shakily. "Please don't take me to the One Light. I don't want to be brainwashed. I don't want to be here. Please!"

"Everybody calm down." I yelled quickly. "I'm going to get you all out, but you need to shut up and be quiet."

The chamber went silent.

"MAX!" I heard Nudge yell excitedly, pressing her face against the bars and reaching into the hallway, her skinny arms wiggling frantically from a cell five spaces down.

"Nudge!" I breathed, running down the sloppy hallway and jamming a random key from the key into the lock, turning it until I heard a click and wrenching the door open.

"Max." Fang breathed, stepping out of the cage cell and engulfing me in his arms and rocking back and forth, holding me close.

"Hey Fang." I smiled into his chest.

"Not to break up the cozy catch up but we kind of have a world to save." Iggy coughed.

I pulled away from Fang and took his hand, tossing the key ring to Nudge.

"Pass those keys around and get these people out of here." I said to her. "And then meet us back in the field."

I took a breath and looked at Fang. "You and I need to take down the One Light."

My words hung in the air for what seemed like several minutes until several broke the silence with whoops and cheers from the caged people around us.

I grinned, murmured a farewell to the flock, and then ran with Fang up the stairs and into the field, where I stopped. My eyes probed through the wreckage, looking for something strong, and seeing a metal rod, which I grabbed in my right hand and continued to hold Fang's hand with my left.

"What's that for?" Fang asked, smirking.

I smiled at him. "You shall see."

He rolled his eyes and we broke into a run again.

I found the hallway again and ran down it until I found the door that held the One Light.

"What ever you do, don't listen to the murmurings, Fang. Think about me, think about the flock, and think about anything but the murmurings." I whispered to Fang, my hand on the doorknob. "Or else the one light will take over you too."

He nodded.

I turned the knob and stepped into the dark room, glancing around to see a wild eyed Jeb, lunging at me.

"YOU WILL NOT HARM THE ONE LIGHT!" He shrieked, latching onto my arm. I shook him off easily and tossed him at the opposite wall for the second time today.

"You could have run your own country." My mom whispered from the corner, holding up a small black rectangle and flipping up the top to reveal a little red button. "But now you leave me with no choice. You could have ruled the world, Maximum. But instead you attempt to destroy us, destroy the _greater good_." She pressed the red button, causing a red light to flash on the little rectangle. "This place will be blown up in fifteen minutes."

"What have you done?" I screamed, running up to her.

"But there is a silver lining." She cooed. "The One Light will live on."

"Oh yeah?" I growled, my voice quivering. "Fang, cover me." Fang nodded next to me.

I put both hands on the metal rod and held it above my head.

"Here is what I think of your master, the One Light." I yelled, swinging the rod at the glowing cylinder.

"NO!" Ella, Mom, and Jeb screamed, clawing at Fang in a desperate attempt to get to me, Fang easily held them off.

"And here is what I think of all your best laid plans." I swung again and again and again.

The murmurings from the One Light turned into shouts of gibberish.

"Fang! Do not listen to it!" I yelled at him.

"I'm not Max!" He yelled. "I promise."

I swung again, causing a spark to emit from the machine and the gibberish murmurs to stutter momentarily. I roundhouse kicked the cylinder, sending it over backwards and crashing it to the floor, where it's light went out.

"And this is what I think of all of the fact that you almost _murdered my little girl_ and tore apart my flock!" I screamed, bashing the rod down on the One Light and watching it shatter into pieces.

A wave seemed to blast out from the tattered machine, pushing me backwards and knocking the air out of my lungs. At the same time the murmurings stopped and three gasps emanated from Jeb, my mom, and Ella.

I slowly turned to face them to see my mom drop the bomb detonator.

"What have I done?" She gasped. "All those people… I… Oh no. No, no, no!"

"Mom?" I asked.

She looked up at me with sad eyes. "Max. I'm so sorry. It took over me, I couldn't stop it."

"It doesn't matter now." I looked at all three of them and Fang. "We need to get out of here while we still can. We've only got eight minutes left." I said, glancing down at the detonator, which had a countdown on it.

"Lets go." Fang said, yanking open the door and ushering us out.

"There's no way to stop the detonation." Jeb said. "It's to late. We just need to get ourselves out."

I nodded as we ran out into the field to see Nudge and Iggy standing nervously with Dylan and Maya.

"Every bodies getting out Max." Nudge whispered. "But the eraserboys are stirring. What do we do?"

I turned to my mom. "Can you guys run to the exit and get yourselves out?"

She nodded, grabbed Ella and Jeb's hands, and ran with them.

I turned back to my flock after my other family disappeared, addressing Nudge's question. "Well it's simple isn't it?" I smiled. "We fly."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello again!<em>**

**_So I hope you liked this chapter! I thought it was pretty good but...  
><em>**

**_Anyways! Thanks to Nola96, Fiona Siona, and FreedomWriter15 for the reviews! You guys are awesome!  
><em>**

**_So I am literally begging you guys to review a lot. I would really, really, really, really, REALLY appreciate it. PLEASE! If you read this story then just send me a quick review to tell me what you think!  
><em>**

**_Okay, I'll shut up now.  
><em>**

**_Thanks!  
><em>**

**_maximumwriter19  
><em>**


	50. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Fang

For those of you who don't already know this, Max is Amazing.

Watching her roundhouse kick Jeb was like watching a gorgeous avenging angel break free. I love her strength, her attitude, her kiss…

_Focus Fang. _I thought. _We have a world to save._

We were currently flying over the now burning camp that once held billions of brainwashed prisoners. I was actually feeling a little relaxed to tell the truth.

And then that relaxation crumbled when we saw the exit, which was filled with utter and complete chaos.

Bodies were clawing at each other, attempting to hoist themselves above the growing pile of rubble and bodies that was blockading the entrance.

Max gasped, and then yelled down at all the people. "WOULD EVERYBODY STOP THIS?!"

But the terrified people no longer listened. They were beyond hearing, lost in their own scramble to get out of the time bomb behind them.

And then an explosion went off on the far side of the camp.

I locked eyes with Max and she nodded, we needed to move things along.

Sadly, the explosion had ignited a renewed energy in the people bellow, they were beginning to fight and claw their way up, no longer caring who was throw to the ground in the process.

We saw Dr. Martinez, Jeb, and Ella at the very back of the crowd. I tapped Iggy's hand and told him to follow Max and me towards them.

We swooped and, in one fluid motion, grabbed the three people up and away from the crowd, placing them at the outside of the arena.

Then the real chaos started as another explosion erupted, this time much much nearer.

"PEOPLE!" Dr. Martinez yelled. "You have to listen to me or I can guarantee that you will DIE HERE."

Finally, the people stopped.

Max stepped forward. "I know your scared, but we need to make this orderly or nothings going to get done. Now we are going to get you out."

We stepped on top of the massive dirt and rubble piles, Max held her hand out to the person nearest to her and hauled them up, allowing them to sprint down the pile and escape to freedom.

All of us worked against the clock, hauling up person after person. We all knew time was running out, we had maybe three minutes left, which only made us work faster.

The people seemed to just keep coming and coming and coming, until finally the crowd just stopped.

We had no more people to get out of the camp.

There was silence.

We all seemed to be thinking 'Is it over? Is this it?'

Of course it was to good to be true.

Because then the bomb exploded.

* * *

><p><em><strong>HEY!<strong>_

_**... There are no words to say how sorry I am for dropping off the map for like six months and not updating. And I know that this chapter is so short but I will be uploading two more chapters directly after I upload this one! I promise!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks to FreedomWriter15, Marz loves jj, Fiona Siona, BooksRule88, MaxRideLuver02, District12Girl, Nola98, BlackVenom, Percabethgirl2645, and FyrePheonix16 for the amazing reviews! I love you guys and I just want to thank you so much for sticking with this story even though I'm a terrible person who doesn't update very often... Love you guys.  
><strong>_

_**Please please please review. I'm begging you. Because if you don't review then I'll feel like nobody likes this story and I wont be as inspired to update as I normally am. Honestly if I get lots of reviews then I WILL update faster than usual!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	51. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

MAX

My body seized up, unknown voices shouting words that I'd never heard before were echoing through my head. I felt my brain going dead and lifeless. All sense of reality was slipping away as pain burst through my skull and spread across my entire body. This was the mother of all brain attacks. It was as though a fire was bursting through my body. My blood was boiling, heart throbbing at an increasing rate, breath becoming ragged and labored. My head was becoming pressurized, I was sure that it was burst all over my flock and family. I screamed, a high, keening sound that was barely reaching my pounding eardrums.

Then the bomb exploded and I was barely aware of the fire erupting through the entire area, spreading for miles. I felt the heat swell around my skin and engulf me in a terrible burn that mixed with the agony I was already feeling.

Two forces hit me and knocked me to the ground. I recognized the feeling of Fangs arms around me.

At least I could die in the arms of the one I love.

"Fang…" His name escaped my mouth in a whisper as the smoke and burning pain clouded my brain.

I slipped away from reality.

I was falling into blackness.

Down, down, down.

I was gone. Done.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hello again!<strong>_

_**I KNOW HOW SHORT IT IS AND BEFORE YOU START HATING ME I PROMISE TO UPDATE SUPER FAST AGAIN!  
><strong>_

_**Oh and for those of you who read this chapter before you read chapter 49 because I updated them one right after the other, make sure to go back and read chapter 49! Please!  
><strong>_

_**And please review! Please please please please please!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	52. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

MAX

My head was pounding.

I heard the faint beat of my heart in my chest and sensed the faint smell of smoke.

"Max." A voice called me out of my nothingness.

I began to feel the ache in my wings, the burns on my skin.

Smelled the now overpowering scent of smoke.

Taste the blood running into my mouth from a wound in my head.

Hear the muffled voice calling me back to reality.

"Max!" Fang called. "Max come on, come back to me. There's no way you're dying on my now. Not after all we've been through."

It felt as though my brain was dunked under water and everything that was happening was a million miles away.

I wanted to shout out to him, tell him that I wanted to spend the rest of forever with him. That I loved him. That I would always love him.

Hands pressed down on my chest.

1, 2, 3, 4. Pause. Repeat.

My head was still clouded as the pattern of pumps over my heart continued.

Then I felt the warmth of familiar, irresistible lips pressing against mine and a rush of air flooding my lungs.

Within a second my head was cleared. All that I was thinking about was how amazing it felt to be kissed. Even if it wasn't meant to be a kiss in the first place.

My lips moved against the lips that I just knew were Fangs. My eyes remained closed as my hand went up to rest on the back of his neck, fiddling gently with his soft black hair.

He was startled for a second, obviously wondering whether this was real or just a figment of his imagination. And then with a whisper of my name and a smirk on his perfect lips, he kissed me again with a sweet happiness that Fang only expressed for me.

Fang slowly pulled his lips off of mine and rested our foreheads against each other, nuzzling my nose with his. I laughed and stroked the back of his head, gently running my fingers through his hair that I loved so much.

"How do you feel?" Fang asked quietly.

"Better now that I know you're with me." I chuckled, then stopped, coming to realize that my ribs ached, my breathing was hitching, wings crushed awkwardly beneath me in the ash and rubble that I could feel digging into my back. "What happened? What happened after the explosion?"

Fang hesitated. "Well… Everything's a slight blur. But Jeb, he yanked open a safe room door under the ground and I grabbed you and dove us into it without a second thought. Iggy did the same for Nudge. Jeb got your mom and Ella inside too. We missed the biggest blunt of the explosion."

"And Jeb got inside too right?" I asked, fear building in the pit of my stomach.

Fang ran a hand through his hair and looked at me sadly.

"Fang…" I whispered. "Did he make it inside?"

"No Max. He got your mom and Ella inside and then Iggy and I yelled at him to climb down the ladder and get in, but he shouted something about there not being enough time. That he loved us all. That he was proud of you. The he slammed the steel door on top of us and latched it so we couldn't come out to stop him. He died a hero, Max." Fang murmured.

Tears streamed down my face.

Jeb.

The man I'd hated for years. I'd dreamed about ripping his throat out and seeing him suffer. For years he was the father I never wanted to have. But today he became the father that I'd always dreamed of having. He'd risked his own life with us to save all of those people from the camp that they'd been locked in. He'd _died_ for us.

"Oh Jeb." I sobbed. "Why couldn't I have done something to help?"

"Well before the bomb went off, your whole body kinda went rigid and you got all pale and clutched at your head. You were screaming and sobbing. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't pull you out of it. You're heart stopped beating and you weren't breathing. I thought I'd lost you forever." Fang was struggling for words near the end, his voice breaking.

I put an ash cover hand to his soot covered face, a small smile on his face.

Fang closed his eyes at my touch and reached up to hold my hand to his face. "I love you Max. I love you so much it hurts. You're what keeps me going. You're my reason to keep fighting, to _win_. I'm so sorry that I ever hurt you. If I ever do that again I promise to let you beat me until my brains fall out. You're my life. My love. The only one I want by my side for the rest of forever."

I gasped, that was the most emotion Fang had ever put into any sentence. Ever. "Fang. I love you more than anything else in the world. You have no idea how much I love you. Everything is right when you're around. I couldn't live in a world without you. Forever sounds amazing as long as I'm with you." I pulled his head down to me and kissed him passionately, smiling against his lips then pulling away. "Oh, and who are you and what have you done with the real Fang?" I asked with a smile.

"What can I say? You've changed me." Fang grinned, making my hear flutter.

He stood up, pulling me up with him.

Looking to my left I saw the smoldering remains of what used to be a modern day concentration camp full of brainwashed people. The building that once housed the one light was destroyed and merely a pile of smoldering ashes.

Looking to my left I saw my mom and Ella shakily getting up and rising out of the ashes and onto their feet, tearfully hugging each other. Nudge and Iggy were very close to each other, their faces less than a centimeter apart. It didn't bother me anymore, though. They'd aged years in the passed few days. Both of them could handle a relationship.

My mom saw me on my feet and immediately ran to me, hugging me tightly and sobbing into my shoulder.

"Oh my sweet girl. I love you so much." She whispered to me.

"I love you too, Mom." I whispered, hugging her tightly.

Ella hugged me too, tears streaming down her face. "You're an amazing sister, Max. I love you."

"Love you too Ell's." I smiled at her, leaning into Fang for support because I was feeling pretty weak at the moment.

"The CSM sent some rescue trucks out here to get us. They can take you anywhere you need." My mom said as two trucks appeared in the distance.

I looked at Fang for a second, then back to my mom. "Thanks mom, but I need to get back to the rest of my flock. You guys go to the hospital and get those cuts and burns looked at. We'll be fine." I smiled at her truthfully.

She looked sad as the cars pulled up to us and she slowly pulled Ella towards the car with her. "Promise me you'll come visit me anytime."

"I will mom. I promise." I whispered.

She nodded and got into the car, I watched them drive away into the distance until I could no longer see them.

And then Nudge was hugging me, holding me so tight I couldn't breath and talking so fast I couldn't even make out a sensible word through her jumble of thoughts and gibberish.

She finished her word flood with a single question, which Iggy just so happened to be asking at the exact same time she was.

"Are you okay Max?" They said in unison.

I nodded. "Yeah guys I'm fine and getting better. Now enough chit chat. I say we go meet up with the rest of the flock."

Then I unfurled my wings, Fang, Iggy, and Nudge following my lead, and we shot off in the direction of the hawk cave.

It felt amazing to have the wind on my face and the air flowing through my sore feathers now that the world was saved.

I looked at Fang. "Now what?"

"We get back to the rest of the flock." Fang said simply.

"Then what?" I asked.

Fang shrugged. "Then we live how we want to live. Fly wherever. Do whatever."

I laughed. "That sounds fantastic to me."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey for the third time tonight!<strong>_

_**See! I told you I would update three times to make up for the long wait I put you guys through!  
><strong>_

_**Make sure that you've read chapters 48 and 49 too! Because I updated those like five minutes before I updated this one!  
><strong>_

_**Again. I'm begging you to review this story because it makes me feel so amazing when you guys write reviews, even if their really short! I read every single review that I get and that's why I always make sure to mention reviewers in my story because you guys are awesome and deserve to be recognized!  
><strong>_

_**Anywho... please leave a review for me!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	53. Epilogue

Epilogue

MAX

We landed at the cave and I was engulfed by Angel sailing into my arms, sobbing so hard her entire body was shaking.

Iggy and the gasman were laughing at each other for some unknown reason. Nudge came up behind Angel and me and hugged us, tears streaming down her own face.

"We made it Max! We saved the world from the One Light! Can you believe it? I mean we're so awesome and cool and intensely amazing and _now_ we're hero's! I never knew that something like this would ever come our way because—", Nudges words were stopped as Iggy pressed his lips against hers.

"Max! We're alive! I was so worried!" Angel sobbed.

I hugged her tightly. "Don't worry anymore Ange. It's over. We're safe!"

She nodded and tucked her chin into my shoulder as I stood holding her close to me.

Iggy and Nudge finally broke apart when Gazzy yelled, "GET A ROOM!" very loudly. Then Iggy started chasing Gazzy, Nudge started chasing Iggy, Angel jumped out of my arms and started chasing Nudge, and all of them sailed into the air, beginning our favorite game of tag.

Fang came up and hugged me from behind, kissing my cheek.

"You okay?" Fang asked quietly, resuming his dark, silent rockness…

I grinned at him. "I'm perfect."

I grabbed his hand and we ran off the side of the cliff, extending our wings and soaring up to meet the rest of my frantic flock, who were still engaged in their winged chase of each other.

It was then that I realized that this was how our life was meant to be. Laughing, being happy, in love, and nothing less. Iggy and Nudge, I now also realize, are perfect for each other, Gazzy and Angel finally get to have somewhat of a childhood, and me and Fang… we have the rest of forever together.

That's how it is and how it always will be.

My flock.

Together.

Safe.

And enjoying the ride of a lifetime.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And it's over!<strong>_

_**I cant believe that I'm done. It's been so long and this is the first fanfiction that I have ever written.  
><strong>_

_**Thank you all so much for staying with me through all the late updates and whatnot. You guys are amazing.  
><strong>_

_**And for the last time (On this story at least) thanks to FreedomWriter15, BooksRule88, Snowswirl66, Imagine Believe Achieve, and Fiona Siona for reviewing!  
><strong>_

_**Oh! And pleaseeeeeee make sure to check out my new story 'Flat Out Falling', which isn't up yet but will be up shortly!  
><strong>_

_**Thanks!  
><strong>_

_**maximumwriter19  
><strong>_


	54. News Update!

**_Hi guys! So I know that this is an authors note and those kind of suck... But I just wanted to let everybody know that I've posted a new one-shot called 'Escape' that you should check out if you want to! Also that I've changed my username to HeyItsHannah19 because... well I don't really know why but I wanted to let you guys know so there was no confusion!_**

**_I'm really sorry for being gone so long! _**

**_Thanks!_**

**_Hannah_**


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